‘Music And Lyrics’ predictable

“Music And Lyrics”

Starring:

Hugh Grant,

Drew Barrymore, Brad Garrett,

Kristen Johnston, Haley Bennett,

Aasif Mandvi, Campbell Scott.

WHEN you see previews of Music and Lyrics, the obvious curiosity about the reasoning behind casting Hugh Grant with the much younger Drew Barrymore in this romantic comedy is enough to send you to the cinema to watch it.

Notwithstanding any talent or reputation these two may have for being dependable in delivering what is standard fare for fans of this movie genre, there were some very charming performances from the get-go, especially from Grant (as Alex Fletcher) who we got to see for the first time in a leather pants dancing, singing, playing the piano and shaking his butt in a cheesy music video.

Alex was once a singer with a popular ’80s band which broke up, and he now makes a living doing small gigs at various events.

Just when he thought there would never be a career comeback for him, he was offered the chance to write and possibly duet with the biggest pop sensation in America, Cora, if he delivered lyrics for her next hit within a week. She had the title and the rest was up to Alex. There was a problem though — he had never been a good songwriter, but he was good at creating melodies.

In a sort of sappy very much expected turn of events, while working on the new song, he overheard Sophie (the woman taking care of his plants for a few days) singing along to his melody. After some coaxing, she agreed to help him produce a hit song for Cora and so it began —- the song and the budding romance.

It was blatantly obvious how the story would end, unless this was your first movie ever. There was no surprise in the storyline, but there were some worthy surprises in the entertainment.

Some of the jokes on ’80s music were actually very funny, and not just the video at the start. The songs were terrific (including the winning opening track “Pop Goes My Heart” brought to life in an hysterical Wham! meets Duran Duran meets Ah-Ha ‘80’s style music video). There was also Alex’s trademark hip thrust, and the fact that he still does it at 40 was amusing and somewhat witty.

The funniest segment in the movie was left unresolved, and that was in Sophie’s dramatic exits whenever her ex-lover, her former college professor and novelist Sloan Cates (Scott) appeared.

Her obvious emotional trauma at the way this man treated her didn’t end as we expected, since her hero, Alex, ended up getting knocked around after he challenged the man for using Sophie’s idiosyncrasies as the key character’s elements in his best-selling book.

There was a complete lack of on-screen romantic chemistry between Grant and Barrymore, but the weird thing is that they almost pull it off because they’re both still pretty adorable on camera. Hurrah for star power!

The final ten minutes was so predictable that you would not need to stay to the end if you have something better to do.

It was the usual extremely typical Hollywood scene where the new couple has the big falling-out that could risk their entire relationship because of some kind of miscommunication, then everything turns out okay after the man does more than his fair share of public grovelling.