LA LA LAND
A dazzling ode to old Hollywood dreams — adults only, please.
Should You Watch It?
If you love the Golden Age of Hollywood, this is the movie that pays it tribute best. Damien Chazelle, fresh off Whiplash, opens with a stunning musical number set in LA rush-hour traffic and never lets the craft sag: vibrant color, exquisite cinematography, a beautiful score, and impressive dancing from Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, who prove stronger performers than singers.
The story is more than eye candy. It asks a real question — how far should you go chasing your dreams before it costs you the people who love you? — and it answers with genuine warmth: selflessness, chivalry, and family are all shown as good things, even when success isn't guaranteed.
The catch is the language. Strong obscenities and a few GD's run through the dialogue, along with implied cohabitation and some nudity. None of it is gratuitous spectacle, but it's enough to keep this one out of family movie night. For teens and adults who can weather that, it's a joy.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESMia is a barista chasing an acting career one bad audition at a time. Sebastian is a jazz pianist who can't hold a gig because he refuses to compromise his sound. They cross paths in Los Angeles and feel nothing but contempt — until a late-night piano piece changes that. As the seasons turn, chemistry grows into love. But both of them are still chasing something bigger than each other, and that's where the real story begins.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this is filmmaking near the top of its craft, and the source material backs that up. Chazelle, only on his second feature, directs with real confidence — the opening number alone announces a filmmaker in command of scale and rhythm. The cinematography and score are described as beautiful, the dancing impressive, and Stone and Gosling turn in strong performances even though neither is primarily a singer.
The film also earns its comparisons: it's positioned alongside Singin' in the Rain, Top Hat, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and A Room in Town — good company, and the film holds its own in it. This is a rare modern musical made with genuine reverence for the form, not irony toward it.
The Worldview
La La Land leans Romantic — it's built around the idea that fulfillment comes from pursuing your dream. But it doesn't leave that idea unchallenged. The film is honest about what that pursuit can cost: the people you love, the relationships you sideline while chasing the next opportunity. Sebastian's own line cuts to the heart of it — he criticizes LA culture for worshipping everything but loving nothing, even as his own choices sometimes prove him right.
Against that current, the film swims toward something better. Sebastian shows real selflessness toward Mia, putting her ambitions ahead of his own comfort. Mia pours herself fully into becoming a good artist, not just a famous one. And by the end, the film treats having a family — even amid unfinished dreams — as a genuine good, not a consolation prize. That's a moral instinct worth noticing in a film built on Romantic bones.
What the film can diagnose, it can't fully heal. It knows dreams can crowd out love; it doesn't quite know what to do about it beyond wistfulness. Scripture names the deeper answer: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21). The ache this film captures so well is real — it's just pointed at the wrong treasure.
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Moderate Romantic worldview about finding fulfillment in pursuing dreams, mitigated by light moral, redemptive elements showing the negative effect of putting one’s dreams above loving, personal relationships with other people and characters sometimes exhibit positive attributes such as selflessness, kindness and chivalry and, in the end, having a family is shown positively even if one is unsuccessful; seven obscenities (including one “f” word), eight profanities (including a few GD’s) and character uses the middle finger; no violence; implied co-habitation, unmarried couple sleeps in the same bed, and some kissing; upper male nudity, and women in bathing suits; light alcohol drinking; no smoking or drugs; and, nothing else objectionable.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Sebastian says LA "worships everything, but loves nothing." What did he mean — and where do you see that same danger in your own ambitions?
Ecclesiastes 2:10–11 · Matthew 6:33Sebastian puts Mia's dreams ahead of his own comfort. What does real selflessness cost, and where have you seen someone model it well?
Philippians 2:3–4The film treats having a family as a good thing, even without "success." How does Scripture weigh the value of home and love against worldly achievement?
Psalm 127:1 · 1 Timothy 5:8Mia and Sebastian try to pursue both love and separate dreams at once. Is that possible? What guardrails would you put in place to keep ambition from crowding out the people you love?
Ecclesiastes 4:9–10 · Colossians 3:23The Final Word
La La Land is a joy-filled love letter to old Hollywood, made with real craft and a surprisingly moral heart under its Romantic surface. It's also got the language to keep it out of family movie night. Our answer stands: worth the trip — adults only. Looking for something the whole family can watch together this week? Start with our latest family-friendly picks.
