MUSIC & LYRICS

Spielberg, famously, in Jaws, declined to show the shark until well into the picture, after its reputation had been well established.

Marc Lawrence, the director of Music & Lyrics, makes the mistake of starting his film with a music video of the main character's hit song from the 80's. It looks more like a parody than a hit song. But then, later, as the movie develops, it turns out that we should really have realized what a great song it was.

That, along with a few other missteps, brings down what could have been quite a sharp romantic comedy, to the level of a pleasant diversion.

Marc Lawrence's script is really quite good. But the actors, Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore don’t seem to quite match up with their characters. It takes more than a Brandeis sweater to give Drew Barrymore's portrayal of Sophie Fisher some real ethnic depth. ... And unless you like Hugh Grant's mugging shtick, his character grows tiresome.

To make this a really fine movie, you also need to sell the music. We never quite recover from the dissing of the main character's song at the beginning, and neither Hugh Grant nor Drew Barrymore are great singers. They're not bad, but I wouldn’t want to hear Simon Cowell's review. This is a movie about great music, but we don't feel we are with great music.

Haley Bennett, as a teen rock star, makes her first feature film appearance and does well.

All in all, since I liked a lot of the script, I was disappointed that the film did not break out to be as good as it could have been. Still, there's nothing seriously wrong with the film and it makes for a pleasant, romantic evening at the local TV couch.