Music to My Ears

God, weekends are never long enough, are they? I didn’t get to see The Departed or Borat this weekend but did manage to get to the movies to see Music & Lyrics. I wanted to see something light and frothy. I wanted to see someone fall in love in a movie. Pure fantasy.

M&L tells the story of former 80s boy bander Alex Fisher (Hugh Grant). In dire need rejuvenate his career, he’s offered the chance to write a song for teen queen Cora. In comes his plant girl Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore) with a knack for lyrics. It all pretty much writes itself but what can’t be manufactured is the chemistry between Grant and Drew. They are both such charming and adorable creatures that it’s hard not to root for them. Grant has a special ingredient that mixes well with his leading ladies. He added a much needed sense of despair and complexity to his character especially for a romantic comedy.

The comic relief comes in the powerhouse form of Kristen Johnston as Sophie’s sister Rhonda. She’s hysterical as the recovering 80s boy band groupie. The opening music video sequence of Alex’s former group Pop is spot on, down to the men with too much lip gloss. It’s kind of embarrassing to say I adored Duran Duran back in the day. They had way too much lip sheen to be taken seriously. Even the idea that the band’s name was Pop was brilliant.

Drew has once again proven herself as the new princess of romantic comedies with a twist. She’s the twist. She’s able to take a conventional romantic comedy and infuse her hippy dippy nature even in a movie like Fever Pitch where she played the corporate girl. She also has that unique quality of producing tears that well up in the eyes but never drop. She joins the ranks of Meg Ryan and Meryl Streep with her crying feats. I can’t name a movie she’s been in where she doesn’t produce this cry.

Overall, it was what I needed, a sugar fix.

What did you see this weekend?