Surprisingly Good

Rating: 9/10 (19 February 2007)

This was a really nicely crafted love story, rolled up in a neat package of ironic pop culture. Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, and Brad Garrett were excellent. The fictional music video of Hugh Grant's 80's band, "POP" was laugh out loud funny. The hair styles, the clothes, the vocal inflections, EVERYTHING, were spot-on. The director and producers hit a home run with their send-up of Ah Ha, A Flock of Seagulls, Wham, and Haircut One Hundred. Hugh Grant is the actor that I keep going to see and wanting to hate, but I just can't. The guy is just too good. He plays the aging, self-deprecating pop star with such aplomb that you find yourself believing it. I don't know what I loved more, the fact that his character is playing high school reunions and Knott's Berry Farm, or that he fells honored to do so. Good stuff. Two thumbs, way up!!