Music and Lyrics (2007)

A washed up singer is given a couple days to compose a chart-topping hit for an aspiring teen sensation. Though he's never written a decent lyric in his life, he sparks with an offbeat younger woman with a flair for words.

Director:

Marc Lawrence

Writer:

Marc Lawrence

Stars:

Hugh Grant, Scott Porter, Nick Bacon

5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hugh Grant	...	Alex Fletcher
Scott Porter	...	Colin Thompson
Nick Bacon	...	Pop Bass Player
Andrew Wyatt	...	Pop Guitar Player (as Andrew Wyatt Blakemore)
Dan McMillan	...	Pop Drummer
Tom Foligno	...	Has-Beens Promo Announcer (voice)
Zak Orth	...	David Newbert - TV Executive #1
Brooke Tansley	...	Janice Stern - TV Executive #2
Daniel Stewart Sherman	...	Willy
Brad Garrett	...	Chris Riley
Aasif Mandvi	...	Khan
Drew Barrymore	...	Sophie Fisher
Haley Bennett	...	Cora Corman
Matthew Morrison	...	Ray
Jason Antoon	...	Greg Antonsky

Storyline

Cheery Alex Fletcher lives comfortably in Manhattan off the residuals from his 80's pop success and reprising his hits at school reunions, theme parks, and state fairs. But those gigs are declining, so he jumps at the chance to write a song and record it with reigning teen idol Cora Corman. Trouble is, he's good at melodies but needs a lyricist and has less than a week to finish. Enter Sophie Fisher, subbing for a friend who waters Alex's plants; she's a pretty good poet, quick witted, and could do it, if she'd agree. But there's some sort of shadow over her head that Alex may not be able to charm his way past. And what if they do get a song written, what then?

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Plot Keywords:

singer | lyricist | band | concert | whimsical | 

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Taglines:

Share the music with someone you love.

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Genres:

Comedy | Music | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros [France] Warner Bros. Pictures [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 February 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Music and Lyrics by...

Filming Locations:

201 West 72nd Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$15,875,471 (USA) (16 February 2007)

Gross:

$50,562,555 (USA) (11 May 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Castle Rock Entertainment, Village Roadshow Pictures, Reserve Room

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min 95 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The trailer features some scenes not in the movie: A door is opened for Alex by a porter, during the "Battle of the 80s Has Beens" interview, Alex says that PoP broke up in 1992 and so basically he is a "90s Has Been".

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Goofs

When Alex and Cora are singing 'Way Back Into Love' at the concert, there is a shot of Chris and his daughter in the audience, and they turn to look at each other and smile. The video of this clip has been 'reversed' (it is playing backwards); you can tell by watching the people clapping behind them, and the daughter's hair as she turns her head.

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Quotes

Sophie Fisher: I'm just here to cater to the plants.
Alex Fletcher: And you're doing a marvelous job. Although, that one is plastic.

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Crazy Credits

During the end credits the video of 'Pop Goes My Heart' is played with pop-ups similar to VH1's 'Pop-up Video'

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Connections

Features Dance Dance Revolution (1998)

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Soundtracks

"Flying Home"
Written by Benny Goodman and Lionel Hampton
Performed by Benny Goodman with The Benny Goodman Sextet (as Benny Goodman Sextet)
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By Arrangement with SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

User Reviews

Surprisingly good fun - better than you'd think.

I've just read the first review on here and I'm a little surprised at the things it said but as always, these things are only an opinion. Anyway, I went to the World Premiere last night and here's what I thought.

The plot is fairly simple - Hugh Grant plays a washed out 80s pop star with a flair for melodies but no clue about lyrics. Cue the dizzy plant-girl (do people really have a plant-girl??) Drew Barrymore who can throw lyrics together without a problem. The relationship between Drew and Hugh is built well - especially when you remember that Drew is 31 and Hugh is 47. There's nothing wrong with such a gap, I'm simply saying the chemistry is there (or they would have looked a little creepy).

Haley Bennett plays Cora, a Britney/Christina/Shakira mish-mash who is looking to do a duet with Hugh's character. She is brilliant at the shallow, superficial teen-nymphette and it's a surprise to see that it's her first feature. And check out her costumes! The soundtrack is good fun - pretend 80s songs mix with Cora's modern pop and the Hugh/Drew demo track is nice too. One of the songs sounds a bit like The Whitlams. The spoken section at the very start of the film sounded awful but the rest was fine - maybe the cinema's problem but I was in the Odeon Leicester Square....

The editing seemed a tiny bit, er, clunky at times - scenes cut into each other messily and dialogue at one point seemed to be cut short. It hadn't been but it just sounded that way at the time.

I didn't expect to like the film that much - I only went as I fancy Drew to bits (and having seen her close up I'm right to!) but both my girlfriend and I came out laughing and humming the main song. It's genuinely as good as any other Hugh Grant film and is another great performance from Drew (though it doesn't get near Wedding Singer or Doppelganger (joking about Doppelganger)). It's well worth going to see at the cinema and is a proper feel good rom-com. There's no shame in it for us fellas as Drew is nice to look at, as is Haley. My girlfriend loved it.