La La Land (2016) Written and directed by Damien Chazelle, and that's the problem. A textbook example of the folly of letting a writer direct his own script. I've rarely seen such a pretentious, muddled, incoherent mess. The basic problem is that Chazelle doesn't know whether he's written a romantic drama or a musical romance. An independent director would have cut and rewritten the script to be firmly one or the other. Either way, it would have been a good movie. As it is, two fine actors are wasted, as are some fine musicians and dancers. Worst of all, the movie was boring. Only plus: some well done jazz.