I've only seen Heavy and Copland by Mangold. Liked both, and would rate all three on the same level. Haven't seen the other two. Yes, they had a big amount of musical numbers, but for me that is a plus. Music is clearly a very important part of their lives, so depicting them a lot on and off stage making music is essential. And the musical numbers always reflected or enhanced what was going on between them. Also I found it very interesting how they performed in the different situations, and the different qualities of the performances. I fyou saw them as "just" some musical numbers, you missed the point. The dramatic events are usual, but for me that doesn't make them bad - just usual. I don't know, i just had the feeling the film was honest with me. Probably because of Pheonix. I didn't care much about Witherspoon really, found his wife actually more interesting (the character AND the performance).