‘Music and Lyrics’ hits sour notes
Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore both possess amazing on-screen charm, but even that cinematic gift doesn’t prevent their co-starring vehicle, “Music and Lyrics,” from hitting too many wrong notes while becoming alarmingly dull. It’s a wonderful idea to have Grant, 46, and Barrymore, 31, team on the big-screen, but one suspects that the producers were so happy with signing the likable performers they figured the two could just carry it and failed to develop a script worthy of their talents.
In the PG-13 picture, Grant plays Alex Fletcher, a washed-up singer from the 1980s who enjoyed some brief fame in PoP!, a Duran Duran/Wham-like band. The boyishly handsome performer, whose former partner went on to huge international fame, now makes ends meet by appearing at state fairs and amusement parks, where he recreates the booty-shaking dance moves that served him well more than two decades ago and still make his fans – now all middle-aged ladies – scream for more.
An opportunity for Fletcher to give his career an extreme makeover arrives thanks to Cora Corman (scene-stealing newcomer Haley Bennett), a wildly popular Britney Spears-like singer. The teen favorite is familiar with his old-school sound and asks him to write a song that she can perform live at Madison Square Garden in a few days.
He knows what the rare opportunity represents for his fading career and realizes he needs a lyricist, since he always wrote the music but never the words for his vintage hits.
In a very-Hollywood twist of fate, Fletcher meets Sophie Fisher (Barrymore), a woman who makes a living doing jobs such as watering plants and is coming off of a disastrous relationship with an imposing writing professor (Campbell Scott of “Roger Dodger”), who thoughtlessly based a negative character in a book on her. Fisher also has quite a way with words and Fletcher believes she can supply the lyrics he needs for the song requested by the pop diva.
Writer-director Marc Lawrence, who previously created two romantic comedies – “Two Weeks Notice” (also with Grant) and “Forces of Nature” (co-starring Ben Affleck) – for Sandra Bullock, uses music and lyrics to symbolize the way two very different people can come together and bring out the best in each other. That’s a nice message, especially during this Valentine’s Day season, but Lawrence rushes things along very quickly and even repeats jokes (particularly when recreating music videos by the glitzy boy-band PoP! during the ’80s).
He also cast Brad Garrett and Kristen Johnston, stars of the cancelled TV shows “Everybody Love Raymond” and “3rd Rock From the Sun,” respectively, and they give the material a sitcom feel. That would be fine if the script had been peppered with snappy one-liners and witty jokes, but the dialogue rarely sparkles and the ditsy and desperate characters played by Barrymore and Grant, respectively, never seem that wild about each other.
Forgiving fans of romantic comedies may enjoy grooving along with “Music and Lyrics,” especially during this hearts-and-flowers period, but the material, which has less weight than a Hershey Kiss, never proves sweet or funny enough for the talented Barrymore and Grant.
FILM REVIEW
“Music and Lyrics”
Grade: C
Starring: Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, Brad Garrett, Kristen Johnston, Haley Bennett and Campbell Scott; produced by Martin Shafer and Liz Glotzer; written and directed by Marc Lawrence.
Running Time: 106 minutes.
Parental Guide: PG-13 rating (some sexual content).
Web site: musicandlyrics.com