Music And Lyrics (2007, Dir. Marc Lawrence)
Synopsis:
Former 80s pop superstar, Alex Fletcher, (Hugh Grant) has been content, up until now, to relive his glory days through numerous appearances at 80s revival nights. His fortunes are beginning to wane, however and his manager, Chris, (Brad Garrett) manages to set up a potentially lucrative deal where Alex will write a new song for current megastar, Cora Corman (Haley Bennett)
The one snag is that Alex hates writing lyrics and in the search for a suitable writing partner, he meets Sophie Fisher, (Drew Barrymore) a talented writer who is riddled with self doubt after a failed romance with her writing teacher, ended up with her being used as raw material for the protagonist in a bestselling novel.
Can the two of them create a song for Cora in time, or will their personality differences, ultimately get in the way?…
After posting an “anti-romantic” film for Valentines Day, here’s a more obviously romantic one for my wedding anniversary, which (not entirely by coincidence) is also one of our favorite “comfort” movies, as well as being something of an underrated gem. Some films really are the cinematic equivalent of slipping into an old comfortable pair of shoes. They feel familiar and there’s a joy in that for me which, for all my love of innovative, visual or narrative brilliance, I can still appreciate without any shame whatsoever and for my wife and myself, Music and Lyrics is one of those films…
I’ve stated here once before, that, as musician myself, I don’t generally like films about musicians or music. There are exceptions, of course, but most films about musicians try so hard to talk eruditely about music and what it feels like when you play it or write that sounds completely “over the top”. Music And Lyrics is able to get away with talking about music and songwriting precisely because it does in a such humorous way and with such charm, that any sense of pomposity is punctured immediately.
The cornerstone of the film is Hugh Grant’s performance as fading 80s Popstar, Alex Fletcher. This role plays to his strengths as an actor in a way that no other role has since Four Weddings and a Funeral or Notting Hill. It allows him use his sarcastic, slightly charming, slightly louche British screen persona for a character where all those traits actually make narrative sense. He’s helped by. a great script, which has been tailored to his mode of delivery (unsurprisingly, as he’d already worked with director Marc Lawrence on Two Weeks Notice and would go on to collaborate with him again afterwards — to much lesser degrees of success- on both Did You Hear About The Morgans? and The Rewrite) and gives him one memorable line after another.
Somehow, it always seems to me that Drew Barrymore is most effective in movies that have something to do with the 80s, either as a child actress in her first films during that decade or in films as an adult, either set during that time (The Wedding Singer, Donnie Darko) or with a connection to that period, like this one. Like her Charlie’s Angels co-star, Cameron Diaz, she’s at her weakest attempting to do broad comedy. She’s just on the edge of being over the top here, but it works because her character’s neurosis, gives Grant something to play off against.
Both Brad Garrett as Fletcher’s manager and Kristen Johnson playing Barrymore’s character’s sister Rhonda are superb, adding so much heart and life to two characters that probably weren’t half as interesting in the script itself and in lesser hands could have just come across as foils for the two leads. As it is, they almost steal the film from under everyone’s noses and clearly relish their chances to dig into the one liners on offer here.
Praise must almost go to Haley Bennett (in her first ever movie role) playing Brittany/Shakira sound-alike Cora Corman. She delivers her character’s sometimes dazzling stupid lines, completely straight but with an innocence to them that makes her sweet and sympathetic despite her naivety. It’s also amusing to spot Matthew Morrison, pre-Glee, in a small role as Cora’s manager and Campbell Scott in his cameo as Fisher’s slimy ex-writing teacher, Sloane Cates.
Ultimately, this is not some great cinematic masterpiece, but a very enjoyable, better than average romantic comedy with a funny script full of quotable lines. All the songs, but particularly that Fletcher and Fisher have to write for Cora, manage to walk that narrow line of being both enough of a parody of other songs to be amusing and yet good enough to make you believe people would want to sing them. Several of them, particularly the hysterical “Pop goes my heart”, with it’s wonderfully cheesy video will end up rolling around in your brain for days afterwards and that’s a good sign for any film about music.
