Alex, who's making a good living on the nostalgia circuit, sees a chance for a comeback when a chart-topping, Shakira-type performer (Haley Bennett) asks him to write her next hit. But Alex composes only music, so he needs a lyricist. His manager sends over a death-metal type, but he's hardly a match for the singer's light melodies.
And their session is interrupted by Sophie (Drew Barrymore), Alex's adorably spacey plant lady. In the spirit of seeing things a mile away, Sophie starts making up lyrics on the spot, and Alex hires her to write the song. Sophie turns him down at first, but she's encouraged to take the job by her sister (Kristen Johnston of 3rd Rock From the Sun), who's a huge Pop!
fan. As is her custom, Barrymore plays Sophie as merely a collection of idiosyncrasies. Though Grant's character comes fully developed, Sophie is a blank, ready to roll her eyes at his latest witticism.
You wonder whether Barrymore (50 First Dates, Fever Pitch) can ever drop the "wacky girl" tag. Grant fits his part so well that the first half of the movie flies by. Among British actors, he stands out as a true comedian, able to have the audience rolling in the aisles with just one offhand comment.
But then writer-director Marc Lawrence (Two Weeks Notice) decides to give Sophie a backstory, throwing the movie off its axis. We're told that Sophie, as a writing student in college, had an affair with her professor (Campbell Scott). After they broke up, the teacher wrote a bestselling book about a character who's not unlike Sophie.
This has embarrassed her, and she has yet to live it down. This seems like a long way to go to give Alex and Sophie something to talk about. It does lead to a funny restaurant scene, however, with Alex yelling, "I give up!
My face is in the butter!" I don't want to give away too much, but it's a high point. Lawrence doesn't dare to deviate from the standard romantic-comedy approach, in which we're given a false climax, followed by an obvious reconciliation.
The main song composed during the film is supposed to be an instant hit, but it's sappy, as is the movie's big finish. However, Music and Lyrics comes at a good time. First, it's hitting theaters on Valentine's Day, so we can forgive its constant entreaties to cuddle.
And next to stuff like Diane Keaton's Because I Said So, this movie seems way better that it is. If you're looking for any sort of freshness in Music and Lyrics, it's not there. The song remains the same.
Reach Muller at or (602) 444-8651. Read his blog at mullerblog.azcentral.
com.
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