Music and Lyrics
I love Drew Barrymore. I love her in Ever After, Never Been Kissed, The
Wedding Singer, Riding in Car with Boys, 50 First Dates…I love Drew
so much I instructed my pamangkins to call me Ate Drew.
I
also love Hugh Grant. As if it’s not enough that he won the genetic
lottery, the man’s also a fine, fine actor. Grant was endearing as the
meek, introverted bookshop owner William Thacker in Notting Hill,
brilliant as the UK Prime Minister in Love Actually, and oh-so-yummy as
the asshole book publisher Daniel Cleaver in Bridget Jones.
And so I went inside the cinema, planted my butt in my seat and waited to fall.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Music
and Lyrics is about Alex Fletcher, an 80’s has-been, and Sophie Fisher,
a heart-broken woman who takes care of his plants and who Alex
accidentally discovers has a knack for writing lyrics. Together they
compose a song for Cora Corman, the Shakira-slash-Britney-pre-Kfed pop
sensation, and they fall in-love in the process.
My one beef about this film is, as much as I love Drew and Hugh, together they’re just blah.
Zero
chemistry aside, Music and Lyrics is a delightful albeit formulaic
film. I love how it started with Pop’s ancient music video, and how
every so often, you’d see Alex Fletcher’s butt gyrating to 80’s pop
songs - btw, I still think his Love Actually Risky Business stint is
better. Hugh has so many witty lines that you’d wish they’re spaced
apart - sometimes, you still haven’t recovered from the last, and then
another comes along.
As always, Drew is unpretentious,
incredibly cute, and a joy to watch. And in the restaurant scene where
she wore that slinky red plunging silk dress, she looked like she
underwent boob-reduction surgery. Or did she just lose weight?
Haley
Benett’s cute, and effective as Cora Corman. Oh, and although my
teenage years were spent rocking to Suede, Pearl Jam, and the
Eraserheads, I must admit, the music was fantastic - and it sticks. I
mean, who didn’t leave the cinema humming Pop Goes My Heart?
All that, and it still failed to make me swoon.
