Fairly Lame and Pretty Dull

Rating: 5/10 (26 February 2007)

The word "innocuous" was invented to describe movies like this.
Hugh Grant plays an 80s pop star has-been who has the chance to write a song for a hip young music star and perform it with her at an upcoming concert at Madison Square Garden. The thing is, you see, he can only write catchy music, but he sucks at writing lyrics. If only someone could drop into his life out of nowhere with a knack for song-writing, all would be hunky-dory. Lo and behold, Drew Barrymore drops in, in the guise of a neurotic disaster who shows up to take care of his plants, and an unlikely song-writing duo is born.
"Music and Lyrics" is so formulaic that even the actors seem bored with it. Of course Barrymore must be persuaded that she can write lyrics even though she swears that she can't. Of course the two must get in a fight and go their separate ways, only to get back together in time for a big finale. Of course, Grant must declare his love for Barrymore by writing a song -- lyrics and all -- for her, proving to her how much she means to him. Meanwhile, nothing about the movie is especially funny, yet neither is anything egregiously bad. It's just THERE, and I guess that's one of my biggest complaints about it.
And is anyone but me weirded out by the age difference between Grant and Barrymore? Couldn't a funny, interesting movie have been made from the same premise without making them romantically involved? But that would have taken a bit more imagination on the part of the screenwriters, and really, who can be bothered when there's money to be made off of something we've seen ad nauseum before? The best parts of the movie are the opening and closing credits, that feature a mock music video from Grant's 80s band. It's hilarious, and proves that the 80s can't really be parodied because they were a parody to begin with.
Don't spend $10 on this. Rent it instead.
Grade: C