Music and Lyrics (2007)

Another Hugh Grant rom com that is better than my low expectations going in predicted. Sometimes I'll buy an actor's 4-pack and then let it sit on the coffee table DVD pile unwatched for months. I just didn't have much motivation to watch this collection, but Two Weeks Notice (2002) was pretty good, so now I'm in. No, I don't think this one was quite as good, but it does have its moments.

I might be one of the few people to notice, too, that Jason Antoon is in the trilogy of Grant movies directed by Marc Lawrence. Antoon has bit parts, and I'm wondering if he was cast simply for his creepy bug eyes. And who is this director, Marc Lawrence? He did a trio of Hugh Grant films in the early 2000s, but other than that, what's his actual full-time job? I only ask because he's only directed a few other films beyond the three with Grant.

Roger Ebert didn't do a full review for this one, but he was likely still recovering from having his jaw removed in 2006... that being the case, I'll give him a pass, but it does appear that Ebert watched the film and liked it. I ended up liking it too. The opening music video sequence was a nice, funny way into the film. Hugh Grant could totally be George Michael's straight doppelganger. That makes me laugh because he got caught in Hollywood receiving a BJ from a prostitute in 1995, and Michaels got in trouble for "lewd conduct" in 1998 with an undercover officer in a L.A. park restroom.

Anyway, it's kind of sad that one event -- like getting oral sex from a prostitute or in a public bathroom -- can be the first thing you think about when you think about a person... but yeah, if I ever think of Grant or Michael, my mind does go in that direction first.

If you can get beyond that, the movie is fun. Alex (Grant) is a mid-40s has-been pop star from the 80s. He was the "other guy" in the band, and while his partner went solo and had a good career, Alex faded into obscurity. He still sings at state fairs and amusement parks, but he's a nostalgia act. While he's made peace with that, when Cora (Haley Bennett), a Britney Spears clone, asks him to write a song for her new album, he sees it his chance to become relevant again.

The problem is, he writes melodies but can't write lyrics. And he has no one to work with to help him with the lyrics. Enter Sophie (Drew Barrymore), who has just started working for him to water his plants, and he overhears her mumbling lyrics. After a little coaxing, he convinces her help him write lyrics.

Since this is a rom com, yes, they do end up falling in love at the end, maybe without even realizing it. He serenades Sophie at Cora's concert, and he convinces Cora to sing the duet the way that Sophie intended it to be sung.

I have to admit it amuses me how easily people fall in love, just by being in close proximity together. At least in Two Weeks Notice, the love affair had a year to develop. In Music and Lyrics, they fall in love within a week, and this even includes Sophie working her way through the affair she had with her lit professor who would go on to fictionalize the story of their relationship without her permission. You'd think that she'd still be a little gun shy about entering another relationship, but I digress.

Rating: 3/5 stars

"Digging for the Truth" Experiment #4 -- The Federalist Radio Hour

I first heard of Sean Davis last week. He created an online magazine called The Federalist in 2011, and he currently has about 500,000 followers on X. It was about last week that he posted something amazing. He suggested if the Supreme Court doesn't rule the way they should, not only should Trump just ignore the ruling, if they keep obstructing the administration, he should just dissolve the Court altogether. And I thought, wow. This guy is saying outrageous stuff like that, and there's an audience for it. So, I decided I'd listen to an episode of The Federalist podcast: April 17, 2025 -- Deportation, Due Process, and Deference to the American People (40 minutes) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deportation-due-process-and-deference-to-the/id983782306?i=1000703904873 In the 40-minute conversation, the host and guest discussed why due process wasn't required for illegal immigrants. The case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was mentioned for a brief second, but...

In Utero

In 1994, I wore my In Utero shirt to college. I’d walk down the hall, and people would look at the shirt. I still remember a professor looking at it, not apparently hip to the scene. She asked, “Bret, is there something you’re trying to tell us?” I had no idea what I was trying to say. Kurt Cobain had just shot his head off with a shotgun. Before that life-changing event, I hadn’t been the biggest fan of Nirvana, but I did recognize the immediate impact “Smells Like Teen Spirit” had on music, or at least on MTV. Nirvana had seemingly killed and buried Hair Metal, and they had done it single-handedly. What exactly was this “Alternative” sound? It was weird, because soon it felt like everything was “alternative,” and that didn’t make any sense. Once everything is the same, how can it be anything but standard, normal? Nirvana was okay, but at least at the time I was wearing the merch, I was much more into Offspring and Green Day and Tool. And that’s about as far as I went into...

I Must Betray You -- Ruta Sepetys

I appreciate the pacing. The author's epilogue includes her mission statement -- historical fiction as a way to keep history alive. Romanis is an obscure place, but she hopes people reading the book will take an interest in its history. She also makes the point that there are no clean endings. So, the evil dictator and his wife were killed, but the problems they created didn't magically go away, the country still had to find its way and move forward, and it was a process.

The Writer's Poke

Search This Blog