Written/Directed by:
Marc Lawrence
Cast:
Hugh Grant Alex Fletcher
Drew Barrymore Sophie Fisher
Brad Garrett Chris Riley
Kristen Johnston Rhonda Fisher
The Film:
Hugh Grant made his career in light romantic comedies. Most of them are really good – including my own personal favorite, About a Boy, which isn’t as light as the others, but still belongs in the category. Drew Barrymore is also no stranger to that genre, having starred in numerous ones herself. So when these two joined forces for Music and Lyrics, expectations were high. Unfortunately, they weren’t met.
Music and Lyrics was written and directed by Marc Lawrence and it was his first film in that genre. Looking at his past projects, the most notable ones are Miss Congeniality and its sequel, so perhaps that should have raises a few suspicions. The base for a good story is there, but the execution is left to be desired.
Hugh Grant plays Alex Fletcher, a former 80’s pop star, the less successful part of a hit 80’s band called PoP!. A comparison to Andrew Ridgeley comes to mind, but Fletcher is a lot more talented. We’re introduced to the group via a video to PoP!’s biggest hit, “PoP! Goes the Heart” which includes tons of visual and musical references to 80’s acts (Flock of Seagulls, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, even Thomas Dolby and others seem to impact this video). Alex’s career, which isn’t very strong, isn’t getting even weaker. His last chance to go back to the center stage is to write a song for a young singer — Cora, the wackier version of Britney Spears (if that is even possible). In a weird coincidence he meets Sophie (Barrymore), who’s a talented writer, and after a lot of nagging manages to convince her to work with him on the song. It’s a tight schedule but they manage to do this and in the process he also helps her to open up and gain self-confidence. Also, they end up in bed. Things take a bad turn when Sophie has creative differences with Cora and Alex doesn’t support her. They break up until he makes a big romantic gesture to win her back.
The story seems very basic, yet it has a lot of potential for comedic moments. The problem is that the really funny moments are a few and far apart. Kristen Johnston has some good moments as Sophie’s sister who still has a crush on Alex, even 20 years after the band was a hit; and the scenes with Alex’s live performances are also funny, but that’s almost it. They have an excellent comedic actor on the cast, Brad Garrett as Alex’s agent, but his talents are wasted. A more experienced writer/director in this genre could have probably done more with this. Another major problem is that I didn’t really feel a spark between Grant and Barrymore. Barrymore had this romantic spark with Adam Sandler in The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates. Grant had it with Julia Roberts in Notting Hill and Andie MacDowell in Four Wedding and a Funeral. Here I just didn’t feel it. They’re a good on screen couple and both of them played their parts very well, I’m not complaining about that, but I just didn’t feel a spark.
I can’t really say that Music and Lyrics is bad, but I can’t say it’s good either. At the end I was left with a “blah” feeling, and didn’t really feel like I’ll watch it again anytime soon, unlike many of the other movies starring either Hugh Grant or Drew Barrymore. Romantic comedies may seem like an easy genre to make, but this movie proves that it takes more than a basic love story and two experienced lead actors. I believe that a better writer/director who has experience with rom-coms (say, Richard Curtis) could have made a better movie, but as such, it leaves a lot to be desired.
The DVD:
A single disc release which arrives in a basic yet sturdy keep case.
The Video:
The film is presented in anamorphic widescreen, though a full screen version is also available on the market. The transfer is excellent and it especially shines in PoP!’s music video at the beginning and end, which uses a lot of bright and contrasting colors.
The Audio:
A very good 5.1 surround sound is available in English, Spanish and French. Just like the video the good sound quality is noticeable during the music video and also during Alex’s and Cora’s live performances.
The Extras:
We get the standard trio of deleted scenes-gag reel-backstage featurette.
Usually the deleted scenes are cut for a reason, but in this case I feel that some of them could have helped the movie had they not been cut. The few scenes where Alex and Sophie use Khan (The doorman at Alex’s building) as a focus group for the song are actually quite funny and would have made a nice extended gag with the various attempts at getting the song just right, instead of the very short scene left in the movie.
The same can be said for some of Brad Garrett’s cut scenes but I think they’re not as important as the Khan scenes.
The backstage featurette, entitled Note for Note doesn’t add much and gag reels don’t really do it for me anymore.
There’s also the video for PoP!’s hit song “PoP! Goes My Heart” which is also shown in full in the movie. I’d rather get the “pop-up video” version which is shown over the closing credits (And includes some funny information balloons), but unfortunately we only get the regular version.
A few trailers for upcoming Warner DVD releases are also included before the main menu, but they can be skipped.
