Every film that finds itself in the enviable position of being an Oscars front runner for Best Picture eventually must traverse the toughest part of awards season: the backlash. That’s where La La Land falls the weekend before nominations are announced, and although it probably isn’t going to slip far enough down the rankings to lose out on a big shiny Best Picture statue in a few weeks there is certainly a sense of the honeymoon period being over.
It’s a good thing that two cops are ready to defend the movie’s honor then, as a Saturday Night Live sketch lays out all the defenses of the film that critics and fans have been saying for weeks. No, the singing wasn’t supposed to be good, and the monologues in the middle are important because how else are you supposed to show the passage of time! Beck Bennet and Cecily Strong are hilarious as cops that are very specific and defensive about their love for the film, but Aziz Ansari’s innocently confused detainee makes the sketch. It’s the same reaction that any casual film fan (and some hardcore cinephile’s as well) have whenever the fervor around what may or may not be a masterpiece gets to be too much. There’s even a throwaway line about how some white people just can’t find the time to go see critical favorite Moonlight but talk about it like they’ve seen it.
If you are somebody who shares an opinion with Ansari’s character here, it may be a long month leading up to the Oscars ceremony for you. So keep your head on a swivel and be wary of any detectives who look just maniacal enough to use security footage of a date to get angry about a movie musical that not everybody loves unequivocally. It’s a dangerous world out there this year for anyone who thinks La La Land is just fine.