Could have been better, but not much

Rating: 7/10 (5 March 2007)

I really enjoyed this film about the aging pop has-been Alex Fletcher(Hugh Grant) and his temporary plant watering lady Sophie(Drew Barrymore) who end up writing a song together for pop princess Cora (played with great aplomb by newcomer Haley Bennet). The scenes where Alex sang his old hits to crowds of middle aged women were just so true they were hilarious. It was a nice gentle romantic comedy in the vein of Notting Hill and Never Been Kissed but with singing, something at which Hugh Grant was surprisingly good. My only complaints about the film would be I think once more Hugh Grant was relied upon to play the usual eccentric foppish Englishman that everyone finds so charmingly amusing, and rightly so, but I think there is a lot more to Mr Grant than that, in fact I think both the leads were rather underused in a comedic sense, so although it was definitely worth watching it could have been a classic if better use had been made of the leads and the strong funny supporting cast.