Music & Lyrics

I was excited to watch this movie because I was curious as to how the nearly fifty Hugh Grant would look and sound when singing. We all know he can dance, right? (Remember Love, Actually?) He came out and did it with taste, as always. No wonder I love his movies--and it's not just because of the British accent either. Add the eternally lovable Drew Barrymore to the equation and I knew it was going to be one heck of a feel-good movie. And it assuredly didn't disappoint me.

It started funnily enough with clips of Alex Fletcher's (Grant) '80s group. I can't explain it but there's just something about new wave that tickles my funny bone. And I love the concept of their concept--to feature a member of a former famous boygroup that topped the charts twenty years ago. I know VH1 and countless many reality shows do it these days. But then reality reality shows and cable TV weren't part of my vocabulary twenty years ago so I couldn't relate. This movie entitles me to see of what's to come not too many years from now of my former boygroup heroes. LOL!

So Alex will endeavor to write a song for the current pop sensation Cora Corman (Haley Bennett)--a cross-breed between Britney Spears and, well, Britney Spears (in her better years, I might add). But even enlisting the help of someone working for Hallmark didn't work out until Sophie Fisher (Barrymore) came into the picture. Well, she just came in to water Alex's house plants, really.

The next thing they knew he was putting music to Sophie's words. (That was after they highlighted Alex's age by showing Sophie's much older sister, played by Kristen Johnston, as a big fan of Alex's old group.) Okay, so they were working greatly enough to finish the song before the deadline--until such time the tantric Cora wanted to put a Hindi twist to the song. When Sophie asked for the song to remain as it is, arrangement-wise, Cora demanded the ending to be changed. It just wasn't working for her.

But Sophie felt that the song was already complete and Alex insisted they still change it, wanting to ensure his comeback by giving in to Cora's whims, so Sophie walked. When showtime came, she was assailed by hurt just like when an ex-boyfriend wrote a eventual bookseller based on a "fictional" budding writer when only Alex's name was announced as the songwriter of the winning song during Cora's tour opening concert.

But all's well that ends well. It was an entirely different song--which proved that Alex still has the songwriting touch. And when the time came for their song to be performed, it remained originally the way they wrote it. (And I had to laugh out loud because Cora still managed to do her signature wiggle while performing a ballad. LOL!)

And did I mention that I'm crazy about the song? Who wouldn't be if it ran something along:

"All I wanna do is find my way back into love..."