SaraK

I guess Hollywood moves fast! I would never have guessed all those movies were in the same five year period.

I should say, its not just the loss of contact that I felt like five years was too short for. It was everything that apparently happened in five years. I know there aren't a ton of things happening really, but her wildly successful career and his club, combined with her new relationship and child and losing contact with Seb, I just feel like five years wasn't a ton of time for all of that to happen. But then again, weirder things have happened. My friend had three kids in five years, so I mean a lot can happen in five years. It just sounds short.

This is also why the five years thing is way too short. I don't think you can disconnect that much in five years, maybe it would be better if they had pushed it to ten years?

I feel like Seb is the type of guy to not be on any social media, even with promoting his club.

Its interesting that personally, I'm willing to suspend belief for musical numbers and a little magical realism in a dance. But the journey as a whole to become a successful actress and/or own a club I couldn't lend a little magic to, even though they're all part of the same fantastical story.

I'd take Hemsworth over Evans. Gosling is great, but MBJ's arms are amazing. Gosling can't compete with them. All of them are hilarious though which makes them all even hotter.

Oh man, I am into that. I LOVE that idea. I also love Ryan Gosling but MBJ is such an amazing actor, they still would have gotten the same Oscar buzz if he was in it (maybe that's optimistic though). Now I just really want to see him dance.

I feel like Mia is fulfilled - she seems to miss Seb, but I don't think she'd replace her current life for him. Though I think as Taylor pointed out, we don't really know enough about her to really know for sure what she wants out of life aside from being a working actress. Seb on the other hand, I think regrets not fighting for her even though he got the career/life he wanted at the beginning. But I also believe that if he had followed the dream ballet sequence, he wouldn't be fulfilled either. He couldn't have had his dream club that he clearly enjoys and also follow her and their hypothetical children around. I'm not sure he knows how to be fulfilled though. He seems to enjoy being a tortured artist. I really enjoyed how bright and bold everything was. The sequence with Mia and her friends, I was super into every outfit. And I really liked the actors in this movie. As much as I didn't like Seb, I love Ryan Gosling's choices. He makes me laugh with any reaction shot he has. Also - if we do ever do The Last Five Years, I will mostly talk about how in love with Jeremy Jordan I am. Just a warning.

That’s interesting, I feel the opposite. They succeeded in their goals but they didn’t really achieve the dream of what it could be. Reality is always a little bit duller even if you get your ideal job or dream club. I think that both characters succeeded in their goals though. I liked this movie, visually it was stunning and the music was enjoyable. But I didn’t love it.

I feel like the five year turn around is super short for both of them.

Also, John Legend asks him if its a problem with no anger. Just an honest "you thought it was a different day? Too bad, do you think you can make it?" He gave him an out! He could have rescheduled his stuff! They put him in a hat and sunglasses, no one would know if he wasn't there.

Guy Patterson was into jazz too! Maybe this is the son of Guy and Faye and Mia is just super into jazz musicians now.

Completely agree Its easy to say 'we should have done things this way' but their whole core desires also didn't fit well. Mia wants the world of Hollywood - filming anywhere the wind takes her, new projects, an open ended future - where as Seb wants a very specific, localized dream - he wants a jazz club in a specific spot in LA. They want to support each other, and their desires compliment each other in a way, but not really in a sustainable way. I think its an interesting take on the idea that you can deeply care for someone and still not be the right person for them. A lot of movies tend to tout 'Love can overcome anything!', which isn't true.

The two of them are fantastic together. I really loved them in Crazy Stupid Love as well, and didn't really like that movie too much. They just have such a natural chemistry. I'm pretty much in to see the two of them flirt with each other in any setting. Though, I wonder if that's part of the issue I have with this movie. The those two actors are a well known entity. They're always fantastic together, so the second their characters meet in the movie, it feels like they've known each other forever. Maybe that's just me, but I think that's a lot of 'we've seen these actors before' instead of 'two strangers connect over her teasing him'. Prior to Mia forcing him to play an 80's tune he apparently despises, they've literally just passed each other twice. How did she know it would get the intended reaction? She doesn't know he's a 'serious' musician. That feels like a move you do to someone you know it'd get a rise out of. I'm still all in on Emma and Ryan, regardless of that. Seb may be awful (as I previously posted) but Ryan is so charismatic he sells it.

I liked the opening number but was distracted by the lack of presence of Emma and Ryan. I kept waiting for them to pop up and kept scanning the crowd for them. Maybe if they were included somewhere, it would feel more cohesive. I did like the number though. I'm a sucker for a good synchronized dance.

This is my main problem with this movie. Seb, moments before meeting Mia and apparently falling hard, tells his sister he's not interested in a relationship - he's too focused on building his club. Mia does nothing to encourage his pursuit initially, she just mocks him for a momentary interaction where he's rude to her. Besides some chemistry, I don't understand why he suddenly is all in on her. On top of that, he drives me insane. He wants her to live his lifestyle of doing whatever you want, never compromising your ideals, live by your art but until he finds her for her audition, he does nothing to really help or learn about what she's doing. Unless I'm missing something completely, she's not like doing plays or performing anywhere - she's just doing auditions until he tells her to stop doing that and write her own thing. But he tells her this not knowing if she has any talents in writing! I was really happy that they did not end up together. I have a very specific pet peeve that this movie dials into which is probably why I didn't enjoy it too much. People that say 'don't worry, it'll all work out' about their (or whomever they're talking to) dreams, and then trip into succeeding. I have friends like this - they just do whatever they want and it always works out the way they want it to. It drives me insane. Seb is like that. He's difficult and stubborn but talented and good looking, so he lands on his feet pretty easily and expects that's how the world actually works. I did appreciate his sister and John Legend both telling him he's kind of an asshole. Ryan and Emma have some great chemistry that feels very lived in. I love watching the two of them just hanging out. And I love the visuals of this movie - all those colors! But as a whole, I wasn't super into this one.

You're going to get even angrier as it goes on. It gets dumber. Archie is the dumbest kid in television.

Listen to Pretend to be Nice a few times? That's what's been stuck in my head since I've watched this movie. Unless you want no songs stuck in your head. Then I can't help.

I also bought it but that was mostly because I knew in like six months I'm really going to watch it again. I've been thinking about buying it before and deemed it an unnecessary expense, so thanks Taylor for forcing my hand!

Well that’s a bummer, that’s the one I’m going to too. I don’t fault them for doing obscure movies but I wish it wasn’t a show I was going to. Hopefully they’ll release a link or something

Not to be mean, but I don't think they're the brightest girls. I mean, Mel and Val went to a studio that was clearly not the TRL studio and didn't realize something was wrong until Carson Daly physically threatened them. Edit - also in retrospect, wasn't it clearly night? Wasn't TRL live in the middle of the day? What the hell were they thinking?

I did enjoy that makeover scene involved a lot of foils and heat on her hair, but looked exactly the same when it was over. But they all acted as if it was a huge improvement.

In regards to Alan M, I also didn't really feel like he was into Josie until he saw her in her party dress. Up til then, he seemed like a good friend of hers that she had a crush on. I didn't get the feeling he was harboring some secret crush when he asked her to fix his car.

I wonder if Wyatt was just trying to keep Val under his thumb. By making Josie the face of the band, he knew she'd be upset and basically tried to gaslight her into feeling 'grateful' enough to stay. Josie was blinded by being the representative of the band and Mel is just happy to be wherever her friends are, so Val is the one they have to keep on a hook. Seems like a weird play because like you said the whole scheme would have stayed under wraps if they had remained The Pussycats. It barely came to light as it is! If Mel and Val had done a real TRL, Josie wouldn't have looked closer into the music.