? Offered the chance to write a single for a Britney-esque pop star, a has-been singer-songwriter (Hugh Grant) recruits a non-professional (Drew Barrymore) to write the lyrics.
+ These two parts seem ideally suited to the strengths of its stars, Grant the awkward-suave songwriter, Barrymore the ditzy-brainy plant waterer. Grant is probably one of the few actors who can work the word “moribund” into a conversation and have it sound natural. But equally crucial to the movie’s success is the music, much of it composed by Fountains of Wayne leader Adam Schlesinger, who also re-created the 1960s sounds of That Thing You Do! The film’s opening is the music video for “Pop! Goes My Heart,” the signature song of the Wham!-like band co-led by Grant’s Alex Fletcher in the 1980s. This segment sets the tone by being both catchy and authentic sounding enough that you can easily believe it would have been a hit when Tears for Fears and Duran Duran ruled the chart. Hugh even sings the songs credited to Alex on screen. Also believable is the waifish pop princess, played by Haley Bennett, who takes most of the other vocals and gets not a few laughs. She’s kooky without being over the top. For writer-director Marc Lawrence, this is a step or three up from the Sandra Bullock vehicles (Forces of Nature, Miss Congeniality, Two Weeks Notice) that form the bulk of his résumé. As with the music, there’s an appealing sincerity to the characters.
- The process whereby Alex turns his plant waterer into his cowriter seems about as unnatural as you’d think it would, and the storyline seems too accelerated.
= ***1/4 Hugh and Drew make beautiful music. It’s more like a fun pop hit than a classic album, though.
reviewed 2/14/07
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