Screen Junkies’ latest Honest Trailer starts like every other, gently mocking the film at hand — in this case Damien Chazelle’s modern-day musical “La La Land” — but then morphs into something else entirely as it winds down in a spirited nod to this year’s Best Picture fiasco at the Academy Awards.
The sarcastic voiceover introduces Chazelle’s love story as a “tale of passion, love and ditching all that nonsense when your career takes off,” then introduces the film’s two dreamers, played by Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.
“Watch as these two hotties pursue their goals with single-minded ambition,” the trailer teases.
Cut to footage from other musicals that inspired Chazelle, including “The Umbrellas of Cherboug,” as a not-so-subtle way to point out the glaring similarities between “La La Land” and classics from yesteryear.
Jokes at Stone and Gosling’s expenses are saved for last, when the trailer pokes fun at their dancing skills, ribbing the pair for their “general lack of effort.”
But just as about the Honest Trailer appears like it’s going to end, the narrator announces there’s been a mistake: he was ordered to mock “Moonlight,” not “La La Land.”
What follows is a spoof of the Oscar nominated song “Another Day of Sun,” with new lyrics parodying Barry Jenkins’ Best Picture winner.
Well played, Screen Junkies.