Music & Lyrics (PG-13)
Mike:
Mike: Tonight I am reviewing Music and Lyrics
, a film about a has-been pop star who is asked to write a song for the biggest music star of today in just a few days. The movie stars Hugh Grant as the has-been pop star and Drew Barrymore as his muse.
Scott was unable to join me this time.
Mike: So what did I think?
I thought it was fine. I didn’t love it, but then again, I didn’t hate it either. The audience sure seemed to enjoy it, though. This is one of those movies that I would label as “cute”. The movie is a bit of a romantic comedy, but might be more of a statement on the music business. The funny thing is that the movie really does revolve around Music and Lyrics.
Alex Fletcher (Hugh Grant) tries to write a song, but has trouble with lyrics. He hires a professional lyricist, but instead chooses the sentiments coming from his wacky plant lady. Drew Barrymore is the eccentric young woman, Sophie Fisher. I dare you to say Fletcher and Fisher 5 times fast. For that matter, I dare you to say Hugh and Drew 5 times fast. As if cramming for exams, they actually come up with a song that the pop tart of the day, Cora Corman (Haley Bennett) actually likes. A good portion of the rest of the movie is devoted to a mixture of budding romance between our stars and the trials and tribulations of the music business.
Neither Grant nor Barrymore really shows us anything we haven’t seen before from them, but they do share some chemistry. Even though Grant is about 15 years older than Barrymore, it doesn’t seem that far fetched that they might hit it off. They both have been successful at the romantic comedy game and it’s nice to see them together. Grant throws out a constant stream of one-liners like spaghetti at a wall, hoping that some will stick. Some of the lines do come off funny, but not hilarious. Barrymore plays the cute bubbly ditzy girl we have seen before. Grant sings quite a bit in the film, both as a member of the 80’s band Pop and as the has-been who still performs at amusement parks and county fairs. The amazing thing is that according to the credits, all three leads Grant, Barrymore, and Bennett actually sing. And they are all surprisingly good.
What is striking is that both the music video that opens the movie and the songs that Fletcher sings all sound like they could be 80’s tunes you never heard before. The songs stick in your brain. Either you will be annoyed that these bubble gum tunes stick in your head like, uh, gum, or you will find yourself wanting to buy the soundtrack. I’m not sure that there is any middle ground. I know I was actually humming a couple of the songs on the way out of the theater. Of course, I actually liked Wham, ABC and Tears For Fears back in the day.
The other actors worth mentioning are Brad Garrett of Everybody Loves Raymond fame and Third Rock from the Sun’s Kristen Johnston. Garrett is Fletcher’s manager Chris Riley and Johnston is Fisher’s sister Rhonda. Once again neither is hilarious, but both get a few funny moments.
This is writer/director Marc Lawrence’s second movie as director. His first movie was the Hugh Grant vehicle Two Weeks Notice, which I have not seen. He wrote the two Miss Congeniality movies that I actually did like.
Make sure you sit through at least the beginning of the credits. The “pop up video” segment may actually be the funniest thing in the movie.
Mike: What do I rate this?
I give this movie a 3 overall and a 3 for music oriented romantic comedy. It’s not Fifty First Dates or Notting Hill, but it is a pretty good date movie and will probably do well on DVD.
