6.14.2007

Music and Lyrics (2007)

I did not go into this film expecting very much. Any film that tries to convince me that 50-year-old men belong naturally with 30-year-old women is pushing its luck.

Again, we have Hugh Grant in character as Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore as Drew Barrymore. The two should really pursue films that allow them to emote more than their stereotypical egos (like About a Boy and Riding in Cars with Boys respectively. So we get to watch them fall in love under exotic circumstances: writing a song for a teen pop icon chick.

This film tries so badly to make a mockery of everything "pop" that it ends up becoming farce - an odd match for a romantic comedy, though it was done with moderate success in The Wedding Singer, but that one had a real comedian in it. Sure, this one made me laugh, but it made me groan too. The opening 80's music video, butt shakes and continuous references to 80's one-hit-wonders were the main source of these.

I can't tell if they purposefully chose a bad actress to play the Britney-Lindsay-Christina character or if they wanted her to seem as blunt as a CD-case. Barrymore's cute-neurotic-creative-naïve girl given about as much depth as the 80's love songs had. I guess the purpose of the film wasn't to generate pathos as no-one I know can identify with a has-been star nor a would-be prodigious writer. I wish romantic comedies would stick to normal people.

Musically, there was some promise, though I'm not a pop-rock fan. The ballad that the film centred on, "Way Back into Love," was stuck in my head until I listened to something else on my iPod later that night.

Official Site | IMDB

1 comment:

April said...

Well, I couldn't get the tune from "Pop goes my heart" out of my head for a long time, but it was a pretty hollow film.