La La Land (2016)Movies

The new movie La La Land is hoovering up nominations this awards season. Critics are cheering its stars, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, and it’s an event whenever Hollywood makes another movie musical. But that’s not why people should rush out to see it. Director Damien Chazelle (Whiplash) delivers the most unabashedly romantic movie in ages. By romantic, I mean the story is full of courtship rituals, moist-eyed glances, and the longing that comes from separation. It’s PG-13, and aside from some mature language, you won’t cringe while watching it with your impressionable teens or your grandma. It’s the kind of movie Hollywood once delivered with alacrity. Today, the rom-com is all but dead. We’re more likely to see movies featuring “friends with...