first rate romantic comedy

Rating: 8/10 (28 April 2007)

I approached this movie with some trepidation. The reviews had been rather mixed and romantic comedies often go wrong. And I don't really trust the opinion of the friend who recommended it.
But it's actually excellent. It's funny and charming. The songs are some of the best written-for-some-romantic-comedy songs I've ever heard. The opening mock video is great and Grant and Barrymore are both utterly charming. There's also a very nice performance by Haley Bennett as a spacey pop star (I actually came across a review by someone who said Bennett stole the movie from Barrymore, which is fairly insane since it's a very small part. My guess is the reviewer either just doesn't like Barrymore or fell in love with Haley because she's utterly gorgeous).
It's not a perfect movie. Like a lot of romantic comedies, it begins to lose some steam when it tries to actually have a story and teach lessons and all that. I was worried it would turn out like Hitch, which is really funny for the first plot less half and then becomes really lame. But Music & Lyrics wisely keeps the plot to a minimum, staying as much as possible to a simple story about two people with a connection being charming and saying funny things.