Honestly, this movie left me baffled. There were so many elements that felt off and should've lead to some really terrifying experience that would've been the pay off for sitting through this movie, but none of them could pull the trigger. Some random, much much older, slicklooking tanned dude with white hair approached Gemma when she's pretty down cause she couldn't make friends at the arcade? And he tells her he 'sees something in her' and then gets into a big ass SUV and drives off? How is this not some dude trying to traffic her??!!! He even invites her to a party in the hills and I sit there and expect that something fucked is going to happen to poor Gemma, but no. She goes home, safe anc sound. Oh, except she loses her dumb job, but again, this whole mysterious character that she becomes enamored with for no reason felt like he was created for no real purpose.

And they kept having flashbacks to her time back home, again making you think that something truly horrific happened? But nothing. She just left after she broke up with her boyfriend. But you get these tiny little hints that make you think there must be more to the story and still nothing dark and sinister is revealed.

Turns out Gemma is just this wholesome, slightly dumb and very naieve girl who somehow fumbled her way into La La Land and while everything about her screams use and abuse her, she gets out of this movie completely unscathed. Great character arc.