Music and Lyrics (Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore)

(Amazon UK link)

We wanted to watch something light, and not too long. Browsing through DVDs we have not watched for about ten years, we decided on ‘Music and Lyrics’. We first saw it in December 2007, and had forgotten almost everything about it. My sole memory was that a girl watering Hugh Grant’s plants ended up writing some lyrics for him…

That is, in fact, the essence of the plot. But there’s a whole lot of characterisation, interaction and storyline that I had entirely forgotten. The film opens with somewhat cheesy 1980s style pop music videos, with Hugh Grant (and others) dressed in the relevant style, made up to look as if they were in their twenties. It’s very impressively done.

The main action, however, takes place in the 21st century. Grant plays Alex Fletcher, a somewhat washed-up musician who used to be part of a successful band. However his songwriting partner went solo, successfully, while Alex found his career drifting downhill. Now he’s limited to a few faithful fans - in their forties - and gigs set in theme parks, or country clubs. He’s considering taking part in a corny TV series about 1980s has-beens…

Then his agent Colin (Scott Porter) tells him there’s a great opportunity for him, as the current teen idol Cora (Haley Bennett) wants Alex to write a new song for her. Cora is into Eastern mysticism, combined with seductive dancing, and Alex tends towards 1980s romantic songs, but he agrees to try, even though he has just three or four days to produce an entire new song.

Unfortunately, Alex can only write music, not lyrics. And Sophie (a very ditzy Drew Barrymore) who has appeared to water his plants, turns out to have a surprising talent for suitable lyrics…

Alex and Sophie don’t work together easily; she needs to be fed regularly, and wants to work on a chair close to the piano. Alex wants to work through the night, and keep his distance. The chemistry between them is excellent, and it’s inevitable that they’re going to fall for each other, but this is kept hanging for quite a while. Indeed,Sophie’s older sister Rhonda (Kristen Johnston) is much more excited about being around Alex, as she is an enormous fan.

There’s a great deal of humour, much of it in one-liners from the straight-faced Alex. He is a character ideally suited to Hugh Grant’s style of acting. The fast-paced dialogue between Alex and Sophie works well, and there are some amusing side scenes, too. Several times we found ourselves chuckling.

We watched some of the extras after seeing the film, and were not surprised to learn that both Grant and Barrymore did all their own vocals; more unexpected was that neither of them considers themselves musical. Hugh Grant had done very little dancing prior to this film, and was in his fifties when it was made. He not only learned to sing and dance, but took some piano lessons for the first time.

All in all, I enjoyed ‘Music and Lyrics’ very much. The overall romance might be predictable, but the way it happens is very well done.

The rating is PG (PG-13 in the US); there’s only minor bad language and one non-gory slightly violent scene. The inevitable ‘bed’ scene is only shown as having taken place, with hints of nudity but nothing explicit. The scenes with Cora are sensuous with young women in revealing clothing. However the film is unlikely to have much appeal to children anyway. But it's excellent one for older teens and adults, particularly for those of us who were young in the 1980s and remember the kinds of music videos that were popular.

Highly recommended, if you want to see something lightweight and amusing.

Review copyright 2018 Sue's DVD Reviews