Thankfully, with the help of some catchy dialogue and the comic delivery of two rom-com veterans, “Music and Lyrics” comes off with more than a few laughs- and it throws in a little chemistry to boot.
Maybe there’s a rule of thumb stating that any comedy that starts out with a bad 80’s hair tribute is bound to be funny (wait, sorry, a sudden and frightening flashback to Mariah Carey’s side ponytail in “Glitter” has forced me to rescind that statement)- but the beginning of “Music and Lyrics” was reminiscent of the comedy of “The Wedding Singer”- in the way that both use their half-mocking, half-nostalgic view of the Bangle Decade to great credit. Hugh Grant opens “Music and Lyrics” with real laughs as 80s icon Alex Fletcher, dancing around in white spandex with the rest of his Wham-like pop group, called, well, Pop!
The rest of the movie is set 20 years later, with Hugh Grant’s washed up has-been Alex Fletcher, the least successful member of Pop!, floating on a dying wave of his past fame and glory by performing at state fairs, high school reunions and amusement parks. Enter Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore), a temporary plant waterer (I’m sorry, but is that actually a real profession?) who enters Alex’s life in a flurry of waving hands, curly hair and unruly neuroses.
Pop! There goes the romance.
Alex is given a second shot at glory when his manager (“Everybody Loves Raymond’s” Brad Garrett) scores him a meeting with half-Britney, half-Christina-ish celebu-star Cora Corman (newcomer Haley Bennett). The comically dense Cora requests that Alex write her a song based on a recent “spiritual” journey she had- and call it “A Way Back Into Love.” Alex struggles with the assignment until he learns by chance that his mildly-crazy new plant waterer is a born lyricist- and he convinces her to put aside her plant watering dreams (just kidding here) and help him finish the song for Cora to sing one week later in Madison Square Garden.
Alex and Sophie are just a little hard to buy as a couple. Barrymore is way underused as the clumsy Sophie, who was given by the writers a handful of neuroses and loose scarves instead of an actual personality. She tries her hardest to bring life to the role, but at her best she only manages to bounce off of Hugh Grant’s constant charm and one-liners without getting in the way.
And Hugh- oh Hugh- is a perfect fit for the role of Alex, with his withering British wit, tight pants, and almost intrinsic inability to commit to a single woman. In real life, they would make for a terrible (although good-looking) couple, with enough failures and emotional problems between them to employ Dr. Phil for a full two decades. Their respective lives, full of screaming 40-year-old women (Alex) and failed relationships (Sophie), would actually come off as kind of depressing if they weren’t so…funny.
Because “Music and Lyrics” is a successful romantic comedy- and it does get real laughs. Sure, Alex and Sophie are a romantic train wreck, but together Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore can charm the pants off of every audience member at a packed Madison Square Garden show (oops, did I give away the ending?)
And 80’s flashbacks are, and will forever be, straight out comic gold.
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