Hugh Grant stars
as Alex Fletcher – member of the 80’s music group
Pop. They were big
in their day, complete with
their hit tune Pop Goes My Heart and their trademark Pop dance move,
but,
today, Fletcher is a washed up singer on the nostalgia circuit making
money
singing the old hits to high school reunions and weekend festivals. However, he might have a
chance at greatness
again as current pop star Cora Corman (Haley Bennett) is looking for an
80’s
icon to write a new song for her upcoming CD, and perform it live at
the first
stop on her world tour. Fletcher
is
quite up to creating the music, but never has been much at writing the
lyrics. As you can
imagine, that’s where
Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore) comes in as it only happens in romantic
comedies
and sit coms.
Will Alex and
Sophie be able to complete the song?
Will it be any good?
Will they be
able to overcome their past disappointments and hang ups to move
forward? Will they
fall in love in a movie that opens
on Valentine’s Day?
Music
and Lyrics
is an entertaining, fluffy movie that has moments of greatness in
between
moments of being good enough. Be
warned,
anybody who grew up on MTV in the 80’s will fall in love with
the opening
credits sequence, but it’s the one-liners and actors who
make Music
and Lyrics
a movie worth seeing.
Grant continues
to be one of the most underrated and comedic actors in the business
today, but
shows his grand ability and natural attitude as he riffs on quick
retorts and
biting sarcasm. Best
of all, you can
sense the sadness Alex feels, but Grant never makes it morose enough to
take
away the fun.
As far as
Barrymore, she makes the most of a role that feels like it was grafted
on to
the movie to make it into a romantic comedy.
While Music
and Lyrics is more about
Alex’s problems dealing with past
glory and current ignominy (and the movie could have been just about
that and
been fine enough), Barrymore gets a decent conflict about her old
boyfriend and
something for Sophie to share with Alex.
It isn’t all that developed, but Barrymore
is so likable and warm that
you don’t mind all that much.
Plus, her
inclusion in Music and Lyrics gives writer/director Marc Lawrence a
chance to
include Kristen Johnston as Sophie’s hell on wheels sister
who has a mad crush
on Alex. She’s
always over the top and brassy,
but it works in small doses.
While the
romance gets a bit muddled, and Lawrence sometimes relies on
complication for
complication’s sake, he makes up for it with great
characters, wicked writing
full of vividly descriptive dialogue and loving send ups of the
80’s pop scene
– then and now.
3 Waffles
(Out
Of 4)
Music
and Lyrics is
rated PG-13 for some sexual content.
Copyright
2007 - WaffleMovies.com
