Wait till it comes to television

Rating: 5/10 (6 April 2007)

When I say this movie is inept and forgettable, it is not because I'm just too intellectual to appreciate a light romantic comedy, but because this one isn't good. This is not Notting Hill, or Thirteen Going on 30; it is not even 50 First Dates. It has some good bits, and then it fizzles. Even my 7th grader, who is a big fan of the chick-flick genre, thought it ran out of steam after the first 40 minutes.
I laughed out loud at the beginning: The flashbacks to the '80s boy band videos, Hugh Grant as the genial has-been rocker who is content to make his living from self-parody, Haley Bennett as the pop-tart diva with pretensions to spirituality, are all pretty funny. Gotta love the bit when he finds out the battle-of-the-'80s-bands TV show he's doing requires him actually to go a couple rounds in the ring with Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Debbie Gibson, not just play music and vie for applause. And Drew Barrymore looks really pretty. Now I'm out of nice things to say about this movie.
Drew's loopy character wavers between appealing and irritating, and she and Grant don't have that much chemistry. The predictable bits of sitcom shtick that pass for a plot (with sitcom veterans Brad Garrett and Kristen Johnson competently performing the roles of Grant's manager and Barrymore's sister) cannot sustain interest in the question of how the two leads, once they hit a snag, are going to find their way back to being together.
And while the main song, the one the principals are writing together, has a nice hummable hook, the rest of the music is unconvincing. The idea of Madison Square Garden filled with sixth graders, all psyched for teen queen Haley's concert, who sit quietly beaming and swaying in time while old fart Hugh sings an Elton-John-having-a-bad-day ballad for Barrymore, instead of booing him off the stage, is too implausible for words.
If I hadn't gone to the theater, but had just had it on TV in the background while folding laundry, maybe I wouldn't have found it so annoying.