Music and Lyrics

What did I get for Mother's Day?

I was so excited. I saw this in the theater and loved it. Here's why: Hugh Grant. Every time I watch one of his movies I am always guaranteed actual laughs, not just the typical romantic comedy chuckles. I think he is so funny. He can deliver a one-liner like nobody else. And this movie was chalk-full of them. In fact, it seemed like every time he opened his mouth I laughed.

As for Drew Barrymore...well, I'm taking a chance here, as there is a good possibility she has been referred to as "America's Sweetheart", but, I am growing to like her. She used to drive me nuts with her "I'm banking on my cuteness with my crooked smile and valley girl voice" but her last several movies she's seemed to pull in the reigns a bit on the tooth-achey sweetness. Ironically enough, now I find her adorable.

In Music and Lyrics, she plays Sophie Fisher, a care-free hippie sort who has become the temporary plant water-er for Alex Fletcher (Hugh), a has-been 80's pop icon. The laughs start right at the beginning, with the music video to his band's (classically named "Pop"...see their poster on the wall behind Hugh and Drew in above picture) #1 hit. It's so true to the 80's big hair bands it's scary, and seeing Hugh Grant up there shaking his booty in skin-tight leather pants and a giant mullet is enough to get you locked in for the rest of the movie. Fast forward twenty years as Sophie waters Alex's plants for the first time and absentmindedly begins to sing to the song he is trying to write. Impressed with her ad-libbed lyrics and desperate for a hit song, he implores her to finish writing it with him. After much hesitation, she gives in and we all can guess where it goes from there.

The majority of laughs come from watching a man in his 40's who only knows the world of pop as it was in the 80's trying to make a come-back in the two thou's. There are several references to his age, with pulled muscles and an almost menopausal fan base, but the BIGGEST laugh in my opinion is when Alex is making a music video with a Britney-esque pop star. She's bumping and grinding all over with her back-up dancers and he's next to her doing the only dance he knows how, his hilarious "Pop" trademark move. I thought I was going to wet my pants laughing.

So, whether it be for laughs or a good old fashioned love story, I say go rent, no, buy this movie. "Hugh" won't regret it. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)