Music and Lyrics (2007)

15 years ago, we saw the first on-screen pairing of two stars who could have been referred to at the time as the King AND Queen of romantic comedies…

Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore.  

Grant stars as Alex Fletcher, former co-lead singer of the fictional ‘80’s pop group known as “Pop.”  He’s a former pop star that is now a "has-been" and who now has a shot at his first big break in years as he was recruited to write a new song for CORA, the biggest pop star and who is kinda, sorta loosely based on Britney Spears at the time (mid ‘2000’s). 

Alex is still a gifted musician but humorously bad at writing lyrics….and that’s where Barrymore’s Sofie comes in as she’s a former writer who surprisingly has a gift for writing song lyrics.  Together, they collaborate on a new love song….and just GUESS what happens along the way?  Marc Lawrence directed this very charming rom-com which also features its' share of catchy music.

Host: Geoff Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Transcript

MUSIC AND LYRICS - 2007

Directed by Marc Lawrence (Audio clip)

Starring Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, Haley Bennett, Kristen Johnson, Brad Garrett, Aasif Mandvi, and Campbell Scott

Genre: Romantic Comedy

First things first, this movie is POSITIVELY adorable! Yes, I remember at first glance seeing the trailer for this 15+ years ago and my first thought was "Whoah...Hugh Grant is WAY too old to be paired up with Drew." And for the record, the age difference is 14 years...ok that's typical Hollywood iffy but at least it's not approaching late-career Connery or Nicholson levels of absurdity. (i.e. Entrapment) But then watching them both wearing sharp outfits, bantering, stammering, and generally just acting all...ROM-COMMY all within this gorgeous, upscale pre-COVID Manhattan setting, it all made sense. We are witnessing the titanic pairing of two movie stars who were genetically engineered to headline rom-com. The timing is pretty spot-on, they both KNOW the movie they're in, and they're having fun with it. Besides....age is but a number. 

The movie's first hour or so is unassailably funny and sweet - Grant's Alex Fletcher is a very self-aware has-been pop star giving Grant the perfect opportunity to dish out biting line after line with the perfect level of drollness (Audio clip) 

And Drew plays Sophie, a quirky former aspiring writer who now waters plants around Manhattan...because this is a rom-com and at least one of our main characters needs to have a very rom-com-appropriate job like that. ;) No matter because Drew just brings her typical quirky energy to this character...she has always just been an inherently likable actress with a gift for physical comedy - we see this off the bat as she just barrels through Alex' apartment watering everything in rapid succession, including the fake ones.

And wouldn't you know it but she happens to overhear him working on lyrics for a new song that he has been tasked to write for CORA....the world's BIGGEST pop star played deftly by Haley Bennett as a pointed satire of Brittany Spears, this taking place in the early '2000's. He has only a couple of days to write this song for Cora before she hopes to introduce it at her next sold-out concert at Madison Square Garden where....he might get to perform it on stage with her. This is clearly the biggest potential break for Grant's Alex in years - he has always been a talented singer/musician though sadly, writing lyrics has never been his strong suit. But guess who DOES seem to have a knack for such a thing? 

Sophie has only written prose before but Alex convinces her to spend the next 30+ hours hashing out this new song which he has already crafted the melody for...hence the title of the movie, Music....and...Lyrics, how clever! (Audio clip)

The real meat of the movie is of course watching Alex and Sophie collaborate on this new song called "Way Back Into Love" as we also see them charmingly find their way back there together as well. Grant and Barrymore have undeniable chemistry mainly by virtue of really playing to each of their strengths...Grant's dithering drollness complements nicely with Barrymore's awkward bubbliness. And writer/director Marc Lawrence wisely keeps the narrative relatively focused on that song and their budding relationship through the songwriting process.

That simple set-up of creating music is just such fertile ground for comedy that it pretty much carries this story movie breezily through its first hour....before....the story hits a slight bump related to stuff from Sophie's past involving a famous author played by Campbell Scott who mentored her when she was younger....and more. :( It leads to an incident at a restaurant which is kinda funny but ends up just feeling more awkward...and of course, this sets up the obligatory 3rd act conflict between our two leads. Honestly up until this particular sequence, this film has been a near-perfect 70-minute rom-com.

 So the movie DOES stumble a bit with that conflict - it almost feels out of character for Grant's Alex to say some of the cruel things he says at this point because he has just earned SO much goodwill throughout the movie so far. Gratefully, the story retains its focus on the creation of that song and the charms of both leads (along with some of the music which is undeniably catchy) carrying us through to a genuinely touching happy ending. :)
 Lawrence really hasn't directed much else besides this other than a couple of forgettable rom-coms also starring Grant....and before this, Lawrence's most famous credit was writing the wonderful Miss Congeniality a few years prior - that film also had a deceptively simple premise which served as a launching point for a steady stream of character-based laughs which hit WAY more than they missed. And that film's infectious energy (along with a great comedic performance from star Sandra Bullock) carries over to this film. Music and Lyrics is never trying to reinvent the wheel but it makes good use of its admittedly appealing stars who deliver indelibly sweet exchanges like the following.  (Audio clip)

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie): 

The movie just kicks off perfectly too placing the audience at just the right level of meta-giddiness as we see the full music video of "Pop Goes My Heart" by '80's band Pop playing during the opening credits. You have Hugh with a Flock-of-Seagulls haircut clad in a puffy white shirt over leather pants co-singing this ridiculously catchy approximation (and it is catchy) of an '80's pop song within a SPOT-ON approximation of your typical '80's pop video....with all of the trimmings including seeing every member of the band get in on the dramatizations INCLUDING of course that one not-quite-so-camera ready member of the band (usually the drummer....sorry) who's awkwardly trying to keep up with the other band members...hey at least he's got his sticks with him right?? As for the song itself?  (Audio clip) Well, that brings us to the next category….

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout the runtime of the film):

Amazingly, “Pop Goes My Heart” was actually sung by Hugh Grant himself and he acquits himself well…..his mild vocals fit right alongside the bouncy synth beats, it’s actually quite the catchy song.  Along those lines, this song actually TIES for this category with the even more catchy ballad which our heroes Alex and Sophia spend much of the runtime crafting together, “Way Back Into Love.”

And a lovely ballad it is….actually initially sung by both Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore in a nice scene of them just rehearsing it before frantically racing to a nearby heliport in Manhattan to bring the demo CD to Cora so that she can check it out. (Audio clip) And later on in the movie, we hear a more polished version of this duet at Cora’s climactic MSG concert….this time sung by Hugh Grant and Haley Bennet who herself has a nice voice. (Audio clip) 

Just such a sweet song with such a simple melody running throughout, who actually wrote it in real life?  Well, that would be Adam Schlesinger who was the bassist and main songwriter for pop-punk band Fountains of Wayne who were best known for their catchy pop single, “Stacy’s Mom” from 2003.  However, while playing with them, Schlesinger also built a parallel career crafting diegetic pop songs for movies….diegetic meaning these are songs actually performed BY characters within the movie.  And researching this, imagine my surprise to find out that Schlesinger ALSO co-wrote and received an Oscar nomination for what is likely one of THE best diegetic needle drops I have ever heard in a movie, that catchy pop single from the fictional band, “The Wonders”….the title track for “That Thing You Do!” (Audio clip) 

Wow so this guy was apparently quite the songwriter, that’s an impressive track record!  Sadly, Schlesinger passed away just two years ago at the age of 52 in New York resulting from complications from COVID-19 – yup he was actually one of the earliest casualties from the beginning of this pandemic and he wasn’t that old.  By all accounts, he also was in relatively good health before contracting the disease just two weeks before his untimely death….food for thought.  RIP to a truly talented musician leaving a legacy of some truly lovely songs.

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film): 

Included in the supporting cast are a couple of fun supporting performances from two TALL co-stars more known for their work on hit '90's sitcoms - Kristen Johnston from "3rd Rock From the Sun" steals most of her scenes playing Sophie's older, brassy sister while Everybody Love's Raymond's Brad Garrett provides some good support as Alex' manager.  They both have a good back-and-forth with their respective stars and I can’t say they’re wasted in this movie.   

Brad Garrett has one of those deep, booming voices and has clearly carved a niche for himself doing voice work in animated films, most famously as the voice of the famous chef Gusteau in the Pixar animated classic, Ratatouille….one of my personal favorites.  But guess how many live-action roles he has played in feature films since THIS movie came out 15 years ago?  ZERO.  And as anyone who has seen him steal his share of scenes as Robert, Ray’s beleaguered older brother in “Everyone Loves Raymond” can attest to, the dude has a screen presence!

Now Kristen Johnston HAS done her share of feature films since this came out but guess where most of them have come from?  Yup Hallmark….she almost always plays a quirky side character with one scene in cutesy TV rom-com with cutesy titles like….The Wedding Year or….Swiped or….For the Love of George.  Ok to be fair, she DID have a supporting role in one major Hollywood comedy since this movie but…..well the movie was Bride Wars, we’ll just leave it at that.  Johnston won two Emmys for her role as Sally, the young alien in a woman’s body, on “3rd Rock from the Sun” and she was just a comedic FORCE on that show, even holding her own with the likes of John Lithgow….no small feat!

Point being…Marc Lawrence saw something special in both of these actors and it paid off in Music & Lyrics.  As for the rest of Hollywood….why haven’t you followed suit the past 15 years? (Audio clip) 

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film): 

Who else could it be other than our two leads….HUGH and DREW!  In the hands of lesser comedic talents, this material just wouldn’t sing (pun intended) as it does.  And can I just say how gratifying it was to rewatch this and enjoy it SO much….as a nice antidote to the EPIC rom-com which Hugh Grant co-starred in just a few years prior….Love Actually?  The most obvious remedy for this film vs. that dreary misfire?  Within this kind of genre, keep it simple and straightforward – there’s one main plot and only about a half dozen major characters with the bulk of our screentime watching our two romantic leads simply get to know each other.  THAT’S how you do it! (Audio clip) 

Final Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Music and Lyrics came out 15 years ago right around Valentine’s Day – it received solid reviews, made pretty good money with around $150 million worldwide on a roughly $40 million budget, and featured some catchy songs which charted pretty well.  I wondered WHY it didn’t have as much shelf life or even why none of the music received awards attention later that year.  And then I realized why…..this came out just a few months before the acclaimed romantic musical Once which was a more serious but also much more emotional version of a similar story.  Once DID receive massive acclaim, has built up a shelf life since ’07, and did actually win the Oscar deservedly for Best Original Song that year.  Put simply, Once becoming an international phenomenon stole any thunder that this film might have had….and to be fair, Once IS a better movie.  But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy both.  

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