A washed up singer (Hugh Grant) is given a couple days to compose a chart-topping hit for an aspiring teen sensation. Though he’s never written a decent lyric in his life, he sparks with an offbeat younger woman (Drew Barrymore) with a flair for words. (imdb.com)

The premise of Music and Lyrics is interesting enough, but the delivery wasn’t interesting enough. Hugh Grant stars as Alex Fletcher, an 80s pop music has been who is hired by a famous pop musician to write a song for her. Fletcher teams with his plant lady Sophie Fisher (played by Drew Barrymore) to pen the lyrics while he composes the music. Obviously they eventually fall in love and after a few bumbs in the road the live happily ever after.

I love romantic comedies when they’re good, but when they’re bad like Hutch or marginally entertaining like Music and Lyrics, I second guess the genre completely. I like Hugh Grant, but I think he’s getting a bit too old to be playing the bumbling but witty nice guy. He should, by now, play more serious roles. Not serious roles like a hitman or a poltician, but just fewer (or no) main characters in a romantic comedy.

Anyway, wasn’t sure about Barrymore and Grant’s chemistry. It wasn’t off, it just wasn’t enough as it should have been to carry a somewhat mediocre screenplay and questionable directing. 50 First Dates, Wedding Singer, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Notting Hill were all better films with better roles for Barrymore and Grant. All were written and directed better and the characters were more believable and less ridiculous somehow. Barrymore’s Sophie Fisher in Music and Lyrics was cute and silly, which I don’t mind. But I don’t think Barrymore can do cute and silly. She’s not that good of an actress. Comedy, I think, is not her strong suit. Barrymore’s cute and silly coupled with Grant’s bumbling and endearing was a bit too much cookie for my taste.

The film in general lacked cohesion. The bits of drama were sometimes too dramatic. The supporting characters were not very supportive. There’s just something missing.

Anyway, Music and Lyrics might be worth a rental, but not really worth seeing in theaters unless you’re on a date where you’ll be making out most of the time anyway!

• Directing: [rating:2/5]
• Acting: [rating:3/5]
• Casting: [rating:2/5]
• Cinematography: [rating:1/5]
• Writing: [rating:2/5]
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