Lazy romantic comedy

Rating: Null/10 (20 February 2007)

For moments Music and Lyrics is amusing, for moments it is touching, but it is also a bit dull. The problem is not that its story is unoriginal - after all it is a romantic comedy, we know by looking at the poster that Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore will fall in love (the best Hollywood romantic comedy of the last 20 years, Green Card, is even less original than this film, but its life is in the detail)- the problem seems to be that it is unfocused. The couple meet and fall in love, they are amusing, and that's about it. There are obstacles, but it is the lack of focus that hurts, the obstacles shift, are never constant enough to become concrete: in their first meeting, Barrymore (who seems to be a professional plant waterer) pricks herself on a cactus and flees Grant's apartment in need of first aid - what is this supposed to show? that she is zany? I don't know and the film doesn't follow it up - it's just a way of making them meet cute; Barrymore is haunted by a former relationship with a writer who has used and exploited her as the inspiration for the central character in his best seller - this creates anxiety and threatens the chance of the relationship with Grant (of course we know there will be such a relationship even before they do), but she has the chance to confront the writer during a chance meeting at a restaurant, she is left tongue tied - this is one of the best scenes of the film, but hereafter all this business is dropped (almost as though it was not part of her character but just an excuse for an amusing scene). After the couple have come together romantically and as a song writing team with their song being accepted by the greatest pop sensation, it all threatens to fall apart when the pop star proposes making their song into one of her dance routines (a dreadfully bad one, of course): Grant accepts this wanting the financial security, Barrymore is outraged at the assault on their song - the couple part. How do they come back together? Off screen he writes a song to her saying what she means to him and performs it at the big concert at the end of the film where their song will be premiered (and, of course, the pop star sings their song the way they wanted it) - it is all quite touching, but it is very easy, a bit lazy. When the couple fall into each other's arms at the end it's nice, but little more.