Very Weak, Very Sad Attempt At Romantic Comedy

Rating: 4/10 (17 February 2008)

The film industry has become polarized in recent years. If you don't want a sweeping epic of a Titanic or a Legends of The Fall or even an Atonement you've got to settle for a very formulaic "commonly popular male lead with the rising female(s) du jour" and this film is exactly that. In much the same way the industry threw Sandra Bullock hastily into schlock fests with Leary, Connick Jr. and the elder Affleck, Hugh Grant is getting the same treatment. A man who once claimed to retire himself completely from movies instead of making more of these films is back at it like a former drug addict sprinting towards the nearest known dealer once out of rehab.
The bright and shining star of this movie is how well developed Grant's character actually is. Complete with a faux 80's band even Garth Brooks would envy, he sells his character well as a battered and tired 80s has-been from the first moments of the film. Any child of the 80s can envision him as a member of any number of hit and run synthesizer bands. It's no shocker that the architect of the music and style of The Wonders from Hanks' "That Thing You Do!" is also the designer of this 80's pop band. Sadly, despite a beautiful and believable construction, the band is just a setup and we never see the dynamics of The Wonders or the 80s 'metal'/'hairband' conglomerate, Steel Dragon, from the underrated and forgotten "Rock Star".
Sadly, the first half of the film with Grant is the lone shining star. Barrymore deliver a half-hearted performance whose character lacks depth, especially after a pointless and unamusing 'tragic' backstory is added. In an attempt to add a tragedy to her past to make her connect with Grant's has-been 80s failure, they reached too far and fell flat on their faces. Garrett is not believable as an agent but thankfully is not as terrible as his turn in "The Pacifier". But he can't even approach the role as well as Bryan Cranston did in Little Miss Sunshine. The real pain was Kristen Johnston. In every scene I wondered if they somehow couldn't book Jennifer Coolidge instead. Johnston's older, former 80s boyband obsessed sister was dreadful. One had to wonder if she even watched Bonnie Hunt's similar turn in Jerry Maguire beforehand.
The film sadly has a well designed and prepared backstory for its male lead but falls apart at the seams everywhere else. The romance is not dutifully sold or believable. The suppoirting cast does a terrible job filling roles, so much so that it seems like they must have been the last choices available to fill the spots(former sitcom supporting cast, are you kidding me?). The evolution, the flow, and the credibility fall apart as the film goes on. What this film really needed was to add even more depth to Grant's character, especially with regards to Scott Porter's barely used but oft-mentioned character, through some extra scenes. In the mean time dropping the 'tragic novelist plot line.
To put the movie in the perspective of its title, the melody is predictable, the hook and chorus swet but boring, and the composition falls apart a third of the way into the song.