La La Land (Damian Chazelle)

[transmogrifier]

54/100

Relentlessly artificial and horribly written (the story beats are so predictable - time for an argument, time for a crisis of confidence, time for a win! - and the mawkish finale completely unearned thanks to the cheap jump in time that completely glosses over who did what and thus lets the audience wallow in a hollow melancholy without having to question either of the main characters' decisions), this is basically saved by the relentlessly energy of the two leads, though they don't exactly have a great deal of chemistry in terms of romance, they sure know how to spark comedy off each other. Musical numbers are a mixed bag - mostly well composed, but poorly choreographed.

Basically, it is celebrating the idea of what this type of movie looks like while forgetting to be much of a movie in itself.

I should have just watched Cafe Society again. Same basic theme, much more going on in the margins.