Running time: 104 minutes
Starring: Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, Brad Garrett, Haley Bennett, Kristen Johnston, Campbell Scott
Rating 6 out of 10
Early on in Music And Lyrics, Hugh Grant's character, Alex Fletcher, says, "Don't expect anything new from me now." The line encapsulates perfectly Grant's performance, in which, for the umpteenth time, he plays a roguish charmer with a smart line in patter. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. The familiar character is after all rather engaging. It's just that we've seen it so many times before. In the way a previous Grant patented his own endearing screen personality, Hugh has emulated Cary in creating his own distinctive brand of romantic comedy. The only thing that changes is his leading lady. Some are more suited to the task than others and while Drew Barrymore is sweetly quirky, the two share little in the way of chemistry. Still, Music And Lyrics is enjoyable enough with sufficient smiles to justify the whole exercise.
Things begin promisingly with a brilliant and hilarious pastiche of a corny 1980s music video featuring a youthful Alex Fletcher as part of the hugely successful band Pop!, an amalgam of all the cliched insipid synth bubblegum groups of the time. The intervening years have seen his star status dwindle to the point where he's reduced to playing theme parks and being asked to participate in a new TV program, Battle Of The 80s Has-beens, in which the likes of Tiffany and A Flock Of Seagulls don boxing gloves to punch it out with fellow passé popsters.
With his shirt perpetually unbuttoned and sporting neck jewelry, Fletcher clings desperately to the vestiges of his pop star youth. Stuck in a time warp, he embraces his maladaptive stance, all too happy to trade on his past. He gets a chance to join the present when Pop! fan and mega-successful Britney-like Cora Corman (Haley Bennett) asks him to write a song for her new album. The problem is he hasn't written in 10 years. He also has only three days to finish it. Oh, and he doesn't have a lyricist. Cue the entry of Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore), an unfulfilled writer who's filling in for a friend when she comes to Fletcher's apartment to water his plants.
By her own admission "hypochondriacal" and according to Fletcher's opinion "weird", the kooky Fisher shows a natural gift for lyrics, tossing them out as she waters and Fletcher sits at his piano. "You are Cole Porter in panties," he exclaims. Up against the clock, the pair spend the next few days trying to come up with a hit, during which time their working relationship inevitably develops into something more.
The amusement of watching Grant's hip thrusting dance routines is slightly offset by having to listen to his fey singing, but he deserves marks for his plucky effort. It's written and directed by Marc Lawrence, who was also responsible for Two Weeks' Notice, the 2002 romantic comedy in which Grant starred opposite Sandra Bullock. With able support from Brad Garrett as Fletcher's manager and Kristen Johnston as Sophie's sister, Music And Lyrics is, like all Hugh Grant romantic comedies: like pizza. And though the quality varies, as they say, there's no such thing as bad pizza.
Kevin Murphy
