Music and Lyrics
starring Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, Brad Garrett, Haley Bennet, Kristen Johnston and Campbell Scott
written and directed by Marc Lawrence
If you are a Hugh Grant fan, like I am, you will like Music and Lyrics. It’s not a great film, but it’ll do. It’s a bit silly, really, in the manner of The Wedding Singer, but it’s adequate romantic comedy. Hugh Grant plays an over-the-hill 1980s pop star. His song writing partner has gone on to mega-wealth and knighthood while he languishes and survives by scrounging a living playing retro concerts at amusement parks, high school reunions and department store openings. Until one day a young pop diva asks him to write a song for her. He coaxes a female acquaintance with a gift for rhyme into collaborating with him as a lyricist and the result revives his career as an entertainer.
The credits indicate that Grant and Barrymore actually performed their songs themselves which, if it is true, moves me to say, “Well done!”