Pleasant, agreeable romcom. The whole thing is vacuous but very fun. It's one of those romcoms that's a little light on the romance and heavier on the comedy, but that's A-OK with me. Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore are their charming, appealing selves, despite a fair lack of chemistry. The music is fun, too. B

MUSIC AND LYRICS - 8/10 (A-)

What an absolute delight! I loved every minute of it. It was a sweet and adorable romantic comedy that was often quite hilarious and benefited from strong performances. Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant are both great and share a delightful chemistry that adds a lot to the film. Haley Bennett is also hilarious as a dim-witted pop star. This works both as a satire of the music industry and a charming crowd-pleasing romance, and it completely succeeds on every count. The songs are also great too! :p

Formulaic, but it works well. It's a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon and the music is a fun aspect.

I'd give it a B... very solid. You can't go wrong with it.

Below average, not at all memorable, but had a few laughs.
C-

The best mainstream romantic comedy in a long time. It follows a conventional path, but is buoyed by the wonderful Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore and the energy and wit of a great pop song. A-.

Grade- A
I loved this movie! It wasn't your typical romantic comedy, plus everyone did an amazing job!

The makers of this charming romantic comedy are to be applauded for creating a not exactly scathing but effective satire of the music business. Let's not forget though that Hugh Grant's effortlessly laid-back performance is ultimately the reason why the film works. The offhand way he snips and snaps out one liners is imminently hilarious and makes even less than stellar material seem funnier than it really is.

Grade: B

The best scenes in the film come at the beginning and at the end. The problem is the they're the same thing - the Pop music video. That was a very clever sequence. The only problem is, the rest of the film isn't as good. It's fluff and almost impossible to hate, but I have a couple of problems.

The first is Grant and Barrymore. They have somewhat of a chemistry, but not enough to the point where their relationship would be believeable. Second, for a romantic comedy, it's not very funny minus a couple of chuckles here and there and the Pop music video, and it's not very romantic. That ties back into problem number one. If their relationship doesn't seem plausible, it's going to be a hard sell in making it romantic. Finally, it's somewhat tedious. It runs at only 97, but it feels about an hour longer.

As I mentioned before, I don't hate the film, not even close. I liked the performances, and it seemed that Grant had a lot of fun with his character. I just don't think it quite pulled off what it set out to do.

C

C+

Fluffy but tolerable. Barrymore is just so damn cute.

Kristen Johnston gives the film some life when it really needed it.

B


Like Libs said, it is a very serviceable romcom that relies more on the comedy than the romance and I gotta say it worked. It was shallow, but very enjoyable. While the chemistry between Grant and Barrymore was lacking, the humor bits worked very well (I loved the "killed my plants" part) and the performances were solid all-around, especially by Grant. It is one of his better flicks.

Moderately funny without being too formulaic. I give it a B.

Drew's pretty but they got a bad shot (or two) of her chin in there. Tom would have never let that happen with his nose!

B+

I thought it was one of the better romcoms I've seen in a while until the 3rd act, where Grant suddenly starts acting like an asshole for no reason, the 2 fight in an overdramatic fashion even though they weren't really even together yet, and the apology song ending is quite uncreative and cliche, considering half romcoms seem to end on something like that.

However, for most of its running time, Grant and Barrymore do great jobs as always, and the film is just a fun watch. I agree it also works as a light-hearted critique on the music industry, particularily with the batshit Cora and the way her shallow act is so popular, as it is in real life.

The music is very good... If that Pop Goes My Heart song was released in the 80s, it really would've been a huge hit, hehe. Very catchy in a guilty pleasure retro way.

Wow was i surprised. It really was a great rom-com. It was cliche, but it was just too much damn fun that i forgot about it. Probably the best since 13 going on 30, one of my favs of 2007!

A-

It's "cute," but nothing special. It's actually a bit disappointing. It's not hilarious and only provides for a chuckle here and there, and it's not really romantic either. Drew was adorable though, and Hugh was charming. But really, I expected to be more impressed judging by what other people thought.

Grade: 7/10 (B-)

Music & Lyrics was one of the few films that turned out to be as good as I hoped it would be!

That doesn't mean that it was perfect, but after waiting a full three months to see it, after it's release date -- it managed to embody all the dreams I had concocted for it. M&L is certainly more than a ROM-COM -- I think it was what I coined to describe the trailer of Once which I saw recently: a SONG-ROM-COM. In effect, it's a musical - where the song (and it's performance) is (are) essential to the story.

Hugh Grant has now scored big in to musical satires in a row -- because satire this is! Two Springs running with American Dreamz and now Music & Lyrics, mind you, this current film is more right up there in Grant's wheelhouse, as the romantic lead, rather than the 'bad guy'. One thing's for sure: he's been in a ton 'o great films, and his reputation is secured and increasing!

Drew Barrymore... what can I say? I'm a drooling, slobbering, sucker for her! Always have been. She's just too darn cute, especially in this kinda role. Loved her -- Bravo!

I can't see how a movie like this ain't gonna turn up on my '07 top ten list -- I just can't, cause it's that freakin' good.

7 out of 5.

Totally agree. The best film of the year so far.

I guess I'm the only one who thinks the movie falls completley into cliche hell in the 3rd act? I was honestly thinking A/A- up to that point, as I'm not someone who holds back on enjoyability grades for these types of movies... but in the last 30 minutes it just fell apart. It was like the director was given an ultimatum to change his film because a break-up then make up song is something every one of these movies must have apparantley.

Every great ROMCOM has got to riff on some of the great romantic "cliches" -- it's like romance in the real world: flowers and love poems, holding hands at sunset and a diamond ring -- you can't be entirely "original" or you'll miss out on some of the classic themes, props, and settings that resonate through our culture of romance (or cliches, as you put it).

What it all comes down to in my ROMCOM playbook, is how well those cliches are played on the emotional organ of love...

Music & Lyrics was note perfect.

I agree with you, but that did not bother me, frankly because to me the whole film wasn't quite..well..cliche-less, heh. It was still heartwarming and funny. Now only if Grant and Barrymore had some chemistry...

Very cute and harmless way to pass 90 minutes of your time, Grant and Barrymore can play stuff like this in their sleep but since I was entertained I won't complain.

If you want a solid rom-com this is it. Also Pop! is a great musical homage to the 80s and quite catchy to boot.

B+

I still haven't seen the bloody end of this one yet, but the bits leading up to the climax are indeed the definition of "by-the-numbers". That said, I enjoyed what I saw partly because I like familiarity in my romcoms, but mostly because of Grant and Barrymore.

My only problem, and it's a problem a lot of films and books that create their own fictional mega-star or band, is that the pop idol girl was shit and I could never see her being famous. Also, the song was a bit rubbish.

Speaking of rubbish songs, any chance it could get a Best Song Oscar nomination? lol

I was pretty disappointed by this. I was looking forward to it since I first heard about it and when I finally saw it in theaters, it was just average. Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant have absolutely no chemistry whatsoever, which is a huge problem the movie has. It had it's moments of cuteness but overall, it was just alright. The music was great though and Way Back Into Love was a fantastic song. I'd recommend it but only for a Saturday night fluff movie.

7/10 ( B )

The grades here are too high.