Music and Lyrics
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| Music and Lyrics | |
|---|---|
 Promotional movie poster from the film. |
|
| Directed by | Marc Lawrence |
| Produced by | Marc Lawrence Melissa Wells Scott Elias |
| Written by | Marc Lawrence |
| Starring | Hugh Grant Drew Barrymore Brad Garrett Kristen Johnston Haley Bennett |
| Music by | Adam Schlesinger |
| Cinematography | Xavier Pérez Grobet |
| Editing by | Susan E. Morse |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | February 9, 2007 (UK) February 14, 2007 (Australia, Canada, U.S.) |
| Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Official website | |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Music and Lyrics is a romantic comedy film released by Warner Bros. on February 9, 2007 in the United Kingdom. The film stars Hugh Grant as Alex Fletcher, a washed-up 1980s pop star and Drew Barrymore as Sophie Fisher, a former English literature major. It tells the story of their efforts to write a song for singer Cora Corman (Haley Bennett), and their subsequent romance.
The film received mixed reviews from contemporary critics, but topped the UK box office.[1] At the North American box office, it debuted at number four and generated $19 million in its first week.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Plot synopsis
Alex Fletcher (Hugh Grant) is a former pop star. As one of the founding members of the band PoP!, he enjoyed considerable fame and success during the 1980s and early 1990s. Fifteen years after PoP! disbanded, Fletcher is a self-acknowledged has-been, reprising his 80's hits for audiences of his now middle-aged fans. After years of performing in increasingly humiliating venues (such as high school reunions and theme parks), a chance to recapture some of his former stardom arrives when mainstream pop singer Cora Corman (Haley Bennet) asks him to write a duet to be called "Way Back into Love" for her. To Alex's dismay, however, he has only a few days to compose the song. Furthermore, he hasn't written anything in ten years, and even with his old band PoP! he usually only wrote the melodies, not the lyrics. His manager (Brad Garrett) helps him to search for a lyricist, without much luck.
Alex meets Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore) when she comes to his house to water his plants. Sophie is a former creative writing student reeling from a disastrous romance. She is also a writer with little confidence in her abilities. While Alex and a hired lyricist try to come up with words, Sophie comes up with words to herself while watering the plants. Alex requests Sophie's assistance on the song, and although she initially declines, after a series of conversations with him, she agrees to collaborate. There are signs of a budding romance as the two write the song, which they finish in three days. Soon, Sophie runs into her ex-lover Sloan Cates, who wrote a very insulting book about her. Alex assists Sophie in trying to confront him. They go back to Alex's house and make love under the piano.
All seems well when Cora likes the song and decides to perform it and put it on her next album. However, Cora adds a highly sexualized,"Steamy and sticky" Indian-themed vibe which clashes with the spirit of Alex and Sophie's work. Sophie is determined to talk Cora out of the addition, only to find Alex vetoing her efforts for fear he will lose the chance to work with Cora and finally revive his career. In the ensuing argument, Alex reveals a deep pessimism towards the music business, admitting that Cora's addition is awful but viewing it as the cost of doing business. Scandalized by Alex's willingness to demean his talent and hurt by his argument that she is refusing to live in the real world, Sophie leaves him.
Cora invites Alex and Sophie to the first concert on her new tour, at which she and Alex are due to premiere "Way Back into Love." However, to Sophie's surprise, Cora announces "a new song by Alex Fletcher", and she begins to leave, under the impression that Alex stripped her of her songwriting credit. Alex instead performs an entirely new song ("Don't Write Me Off") written by himself about his and Sophie's relationship, despite his admitted incapability to write lyrics. Alex tells Sophie backstage that he convinced Cora to remove the risqué Indian-music-theme of "Way Back into Love" as an attempt to "win her back". The original version of the song is performed by the two (Alex and Cora), after which Alex and Sophie kiss backstage.
During the credits, a VH1-style Pop-up Video of the song "Pop Goes My Heart" informs viewers of the events after the movie.
[edit] Cast
- Hugh Grant as Alex Fletcher, the 1980's pop singer, and self described '80's 'has-been.'
- Drew Barrymore as Sophie Fisher, the plant girl and songwriter.
- Haley Bennett as Cora Corman, the current hot young top 10 singer.
- Brad Garrett as Chris Riley, Alex's manager.
- Aasif Mandvi as Khan, Alex's tone-deaf doorman.
- Kristen Johnston as Rhonda, Sophie's older sister (by 7 years)
- Scott Porter as Colin Thompson, Alex's bandmate
- Campbell Scott as Sloan Cates, Sophie's ex-boyfriend
[edit] Soundtrack
The soundtrack was written and performed by the individuals listed below. The soundtrack album reached #5 on the Billboard Top Soundtracks chart in 2007, and #63 on the Billboard 200.[3]
| # | Title | Songwriters | Credit on CD insert | Credited in film | Track Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pop! Goes My Heart | Andrew Wyatt | All instruments: Andrew Wyatt, Vocals: Hugh Grant, Andrew Wyatt | Hugh Grant | 3.15 |
| 2 | Buddha's Delight (studio) | 5 | Vocals: Haley Bennett, B-vox: Lucy Woodward | Haley Bennett | 2:47 |
| 3 | Meaningless Kiss | Adam Schlesinger | Sax: Jack Bashkow, B-vox: Martin Fry | Hugh Grant | 3:49 |
| 4 | Entering Bootytown | Andrew Wyatt | All instruments: Andrew Wyatt, Vocals: Haley Bennett | Haley Bennett | 3.24 |
| 5 | Way Back Into Love (Demo Mix) | Adam Schlesinger | All instruments: Adam Schlesinger, Vocals: Drew Barrymore, Hugh Grant | Drew Barrymore, Hugh Grant | 4:12 |
| 6 | Tony the Beat | The Sounds | The Sounds | The Sounds | 3:10 |
| 7 | Dance With Me Tonight | Clyde Lawrence | Intro: Clyde Lawrence, Vocals: Hugh Grant, Andrew Wyatt, Sax: Sam Albright | Hugh Grant | 3:00 |
| 8 | Slam | Andrew Wyatt | Vocals: Haley Bennett, B-vox: Andrew Wyatt | Haley Bennett | 3:48 |
| 9 | Don't Write Me Off | Adam Schlesinger | Piano: Adam Schlesinger | Hugh Grant | 2:30 |
| 10 | Way Back Into Love (unlive) | Adam Schlesinger | All instruments: Adam Schlesinger, Vocals: Hugh Grant, Haley Bennett, B-vox: Britta Phillips, Kelly Jones | Haley Bennett, Hugh Grant | 4:37 |
| 11 | Different Sound | Teddybears | Vocals: Malte Holmberg (Sweden) | Teddybears | 3:23 |
| 12 | Love Autopsy (studio) | Marc Lawrence | Piano: Michael Rafter, Vocals: Hugh Grant | Hugh Grant | 0:40 |
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Music and Lyrics tops box office". BBC. February 13, 2007. Retrieved April 3, 2007.
- ^ BoxOfficeMojo.com. "Music and Lyrics". Weekly box office statistics. Retrieved April 3, 2007.
- ^ Allmusic.com. Music and Lyrics Original Soundtrack: Chart & Awards.
