Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant school everyone on charm

"...and then the police officer pulled me over and I swore I was just giving the girl a ride to her house...have you heard this one before?"

Music and Lyrics is a standard issue rom com that came out around Valentines Day last year about a has been 80's pop star and a failed writer trying to write a song for a modern pop diva. The story is your average romantic comedy with the "meet cute", the montage of good times together, the inevitable obstacle to create a break up and then the big make up at the end. So why would I watch such a predictable movie? Well, with a title like Music and Lyrics I just feel obligated to view it. And how could I miss anything that gives a nod to the Reagan era? So I did and was surprisingly rewarded for it.

This movie is about acting charming and both Barrymore and Grant have that nailed down. Barrymore in particular does that space cadet thing she does so well (and as Jimmy Fallon noted in a previous rom com, she talks out of the side of her mouth like a stroke victim in a cute way). Grant doesn't seem to do the stammering thing he did earlier in his career but delivers his lines in a droll humorous fashion. While they don't have combustable chemestry together, they do feed off each other's schtick. Both Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond) and Kristen Johnson (3rd Rock From The Sun) provide great backup as the comic relief.

Best of all, the movie takes a knowing jab at pop culture with terrific send ups of 8o's pop stars, modern pop divas and the life of a "has been". Below is the music video for the group POP, the Wham!-like group that Hugh Grant's character was supposed to have made it big with. Both the song and video fit perfectly as a send up of the era where new romantic clothing and shaking your bum equalled a teen girl following and probably would have been a hit if it was a real song at the time. Music and Lyrics is as light and airy as it aims to be, a pleasant diversion.

POP - "Pop! Goes My Heart"