Picture this: Hugh Grant in tight leather pants sporting a Flock of Seagulls haircut and popping his hips with a level of boy-band insincerity rivaling even the cheesiest of *NSYNC moves. If it sounds too good to be true, that's because it is. The opening sequence to Music and Lyrics is a hysterically over-the-top music video during which Grant pounds away at a keyboard and energetically lip-syncs "Pop! goes my heart." And it's pretty much the last good thing the movie has to offer.
Alex Fletcher (Grant) is a washed-up '80s pop star who gets one last break when teen superstar Cora (Haley Bennett) asks him to write her next song. Sadly, Alex can't write lyrics, so he enlists plant-waterer/closet-poet Sophie (Drew Barrymore) to help. And, well, let's just say he's the music to her lyrics... you get it?
Though the premise is mildly interesting, and the basic romantic comedy structure is tried and usually true, the film makes too many promises it can't keep. The intro finds some humor in Grant's ridiculousness, but the rest of Music tries too hard to really be funny. Sophie's character starts out quirky, too, proclaiming herself "hypochondriacal," but her oddities disappear early. The movie's redeeming feature is the chemistry between the stars; that accomplishment, though, is perhaps diminished by the fact that Hugh Grant has chemistry with everybody. Though it plays a familiar tune, Music and Lyrics strikes a false note.
