Romancefest 2016: Music and Lyrics

Romantic comedy titans Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant join forces for 2007's MUSIC AND LYRICS, written and directed by Marc Lawrence. And guess what? It's super good! Like, if you think it sounds dumb you'll be pleasantly surprised, and if you think it sounds awesome, you'll be blown away.

Grant stars as an aging rock star, famous for being the less popular half of a WHAM-esque band back in the 80s. Now he's relegated to appearing on programs where washed-up stars box each other, although his manager (Brad Garrett) has landed him a gig writing a song for a Britney Spears-ish teen pop idol (Haley Bennett) who happens to like his work.

Thing is, he's only good at music. Not lyrics. He tries to work with a renowned lyricist but the dude's a dick, and the girl who shows up to water the plants is a little bit of a flighty klutz but she's good with words. On top of that, she's played by DREW BARRYMORE! So of course Grant bends over backwards to get her on his team and together they write a song that is actually nice to listen to.

Of course the pop star snaps it up, but she wants to put her stamp on it, and her stamp includes a bunch of tasteless bullshit, so there's a little trouble in paradise as Grant attempts to play nice in order to secure his comeback and Barrymore wants her first effort to be taken seriously and not compromised. They also sleep together, so that complicates things.

The whole movie is just so nice and fun and well made that even though you might say it is formulaic it doesn't matter at all. Once again, we have a couple characters here who are actually working on something, and doing that work together brings them together in a very believable way. We're not just asked to buy they love each other. You actually get to see the love blossom! It helps that Grant and Barrymore work their usual magic, but they have a good script to work from, too.

The choices Lawrence makes with the characters and story add some poignancy. For instance, Grant could have been a disgusting, blowhard, typical egotistical star who is washed up but doesn't realize it. But instead, Lawrence has Grant play it as a guy who's kind of amused by his own position and even sort of enjoys going out to make his fans happy in performances at high school reunions and amusement parks. Similarly, Barrymore is not a slobbering fan girl, but a pragmatic person who has been hurt before and admires Grant without being eclipsed by him. We have Kristin Johnston as Barrymore's sister to do all the necessary slobbering over Grant, and she's hilarious and needs to be in more movies.

Also, stay for the credits -- we get updates and background on the characters through a sequence inspired by VH1's pop-up video, which is an inspired touch.