Jolly, undemanding fare for a cold winter's night.

Rating: 6/10 (10 November 2007)

If you want your movies to explore the meaning of life then "Music and Lyrics" is not for you. It won't ever make anyone's top ten (or top hundred for that matter) but it does entertain and there are worse ways of spending a cold winter's evening than by watching this movie. Hugh Grant is good and believable as washed up 80's pop star Alex Fletcher and he sings his own numbers rather well! Grant can stroll effortlessly through a movie like this without breaking sweat and the part could have been written for him (perhaps it was?). Drew Barrymore is quirky and a bit weird as the tyro lyricist but she is engaging and funny. Revelation (for me) was the teenage Haley Bennett as the Madonna/Kylie/Britney "diva". She gives a convincing and very raunchy performance and hits rather well the vacuous self-aware style of these queens of pop. If you want more substantial fare then the works of Jean-Luc Godard, Michelangelo Antonioni and Federico Fellini are available on DVD. If you want an unchallenging and amusing couple of hours then this is for you.