Greetings,
Yesterday, I reviewed a little movie called Once, which, in its simplest form, is about a guy and a girl who meet and write songs together. I loved it, but it is an indie film. That is not everyone's cup of tea. Some people want a movie that is more mainstream, so I thought the best way to follow up that one would be with Music and Lyrics. It had a bigger budget and bigger stars. Literally. This thing has Brad Garrett, and he's like 8 feet tall. But our "Guy" and "Girl" here are played by Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. Well, I like one of them. Anyway, this is a comedy, so these two were cast because of their track record in that area and their names as actors and not at all because of their musical talent or lack thereof. But we'll get to that later. Let's get to the actual movie.
The film starts with the sound of some dated 80's pop music accompanied by a music video ("A what?" says the youngsters), which is just as cheesy as we would expect. It features a band called PoP!(actual spelling), a group of five guys which are clearly led by two of them, namely Alex Fletcher and Colin Thompson. The first of those two is played by Hugh Grant. This video leads to some present day exposition about the history of the band. Look, let me just break it down for you. Colin is the George Michael and Alex is the Andrew Ridgeley. Yeah, they're Wham! I don't even think the film makers try to hide this fact, as if they could, but apparently, this thing is also inspired by Duran Duran. Fine. Moving on.
Obviously, Alex is not the more famous of the two, but he hopes to get back some success. How? Well, enter his manager, Chris Riley, played by Brad Garrett, very well I might add. Chris tells Alex that he is in the running to write a song for a very popular young singer named Cora Corman played by newcomer Hayley Bennett, who I think did great as this character. And who is this character exactly? Well, she is clearly a Britney Spears copy, but since Cora is completely into the religion of Buddhism, which she is trying to make trendy, we obviously have a little Madonna thrown in there, too. Oh, and her manager is played by Matthew Morrison. Yeah, Mr. Schuster from Glee is in a movie about music and he doesn't even sing. I guess he wanted to be taken seriously as an actor. Keep trying, buddy.
Anyway, Cora wants a song called "Way Back Into Love" and she wants it by the end of the week. She also wants Alex to perform it with her at a big concert, which should definitely help to put him back on top. Should be no problem for a professional songwriter like Alex? Right? Wrong! Alex excelled at music writing, not lyric writing. And through sheer coincidence, he meets a woman named Sophie Fisher, played by Drew Barrymore.
Before I go on, a little Sophie Fisher back story. She took writing classes at The New School, where she had a little trouble with a teacher. That is touched upon in the film. But now she works for her parents diet food company with her sister, Rhonda played by Kristen Johnston. And Kristen Johnston is why I have this separate paragraph. She is hilarious in this film and absolutely steals the show in every scene she is in. That being said, let us continue.
As Alex and Sophie work on the song, their relationship deepens. What a surprise. They learn a lot about each other's pasts and even have the creative differences that are usually set aside for partners that have been writing together for years. Aren't they lucky? But they do eventually finish the song and get the job. Speaking of that song, let's talk about the music.
Okay, the music in this movie is mostly songs written specifically for it. So don't expect a load of masterpieces, but it's not total crap either. I mean, even though Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore could barely carry a tune, it didn't do that much damage. Actually, I think some of the music is pretty good, and it certainly fits with what it is supposed to be. The old PoP! songs that Alex performs do sound like something Wham! might have done, and all the songs for Cora are what you would expect from a current pop princess. But what about THE song? The song that the entire movie is based on, "Way Back Into Love"? Well, to be honest, I think it's kind of cute. Again, not a masterpiece, but a decent pop song with pretty good music and lyrics. There you go! Music and lyrics! I'm not saying you'll want to run out and buy or download the soundtrack, but you won't be spending the whole movie groaning at the music either.
So, despite the fact that I may have issues with some of the actors, I find this movie quite enjoyable. It's just one of those fun films that is not meant to take itself too seriously, which is nice to have every now and then. But I have to be honest with you all. The main accomplishment of this movie, much like Once, is to make me very jealous. I am a songwriter, but I can admit that I certainly excel more at the lyrics rather than the music. So why can't I find some adorable boy with an accent to write songs with me? Oh, sigh. I guess it's just one more thing to add to the prayer list.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
