LA LA LAND

Ryan Gosling looks on longingly as the Heavenly Dreamboat Who Plays The Piano. Emma Stone shoots back dreamily with her big bulbous eyes as the Enamoured Sunshine Girl. Every yearning gaze here is picture postcard-perfect and could be sold as a $5 romantic memento.

He is a jazzman tinkling piano keys. She is an aspiring actress. They struggle together to keep their beautiful dream alive before they grow party- pooping old, I guess. Writer-director Damien Chazelle, who made the terrific drum-torture movie Whiplash (2014), seems to have gone all lovey-dovey in this musical romcom-drama which evokes Golden Age nostalgia.

RULES DON'T APPLY

At first, I thought this was about an old Warren Beatty flirting with a young Lily Collins. Then Beatty's real-life wife, Annette Bening, pops up playing Collins' mum and I knew Juvenile Hour is over.

The intended attraction here is between Collins and young dude Alden Ehrenreich (the guy picked to be the new Han Solo in Star Wars).

Beatty, who writes and directs this movie, plays 1950s-era Donald Trump-style billionaire Howard Hughes as a lovable weirdo.

Collins is a budding beauty in the crazy rich man's personal collection of Hollywood actresses for his vanity movies. Ehrenreich's working for the same rich freak as some kind of anything-goes assistant. And they are about to break the big boss' one very strict rule - no inter-breeding among his staff.

Tay Yek Kek