RUNNING TIME: 1 hr. 36 min.
RATING: PG-13 - some sexual content
CAST: Hugh
Grant, Drew Barrymore, Brad Garrett, Kristen Johnston, Haley Bennett
DIRECTOR: Marc Lawrence
GENRE: Romantic Comedy, Comedy
I’m not the biggest Drew Barrymore fan. Honestly I find her really annoying – onscreen and off. I know she has her fan base but I just don’t get her.
But hell if the beeyatch can’t make a decent romantic comedy.
Music And Lyrics is an irresistible, cute and wickedly good send-up of romantic comedies and the pop music industry.
If you can get past the disturbing age difference – Hugh Grant looking like Methuselah at only 46 and Barrymore, 15 years younger (but looking even younger) you’re in for a good flick.
Grant plays Alex Fletcher, the Andrew Ridgely (Wham!) of a gigantic pop duo called POP! When the M&L opens he is performing in a music video, which accurately skewers most of the videos of that era. When the “George Michael” half of the act leaves him, Alex is left with dismal selling solo efforts and appearances at class reunions and state fairs. Oh and he has a deal on the table for boxing match titled Battle of the 80s Has-Beens!
When his manager, played by Brad Garrett, brings Alex a renewed chance at stardom by writing a new song for a Shakira clone, Cora Corman (Haley Bennet), he nervously jumps at it. Turns out the clone has broken up with her beau and wants a song titled, Way back into Love. She needs it in a week for her show at Madison Square Garden.
The problem arises in that Alex was the Elton John, not the Bernie Taupin of the partnership. So his pen is coooooooooooold. Enter Sophie Fisher, played by Barrymore. Sophie is weird. Just flat out weird. And she has a germ phobia. She’s also emotionally scarred from an earlier relationship with an English professor. She’s more into taking care of Alex’s plants than pop music, but she happens to have a way with words.
Writer-director Marc Lawrence (Forces of Nature; 2 Weeks Notice) created a pleasant surprise for me Yes Grant is filled with his usual one-liners. Does he act any other way? And Barrymore is her usual annoying self to me. But mix it all together with some scene-stealing scenes by Kirsten Johnston (3rd Rock From the Sun) and it somehow works. Don’t ask me how. It just does.
This was originally released on Valentine’s Day. And I think it’s very appropriate.
Save it for some chilly night to curl up with your loved one. Take a deep breath and get over creepy old man with hot young chick and enjoy!
THREE BALL POINT PENS
DVD EXTRAS: TWO BALL POINT PENS
Other Hugh Grant movies: Bridget Jones's Diary, About a Boy, Notting Hill, Two Weeks Notice, Mickey Blue Eyes, Four Weddings and a Funeral
Other Drew Barrymore movies: Charlie's Angels, The Wedding Singer, 50 First Dates, Fever Pitch, ET