On Valentine’s Day, I went to see Music & Lyrics. How cliché appropriate.
I have a different ratings scale for “chick flicks.” I can assure you, I’ve seen ‘em all more than once. For example, Notting Hill and French Kiss are actually quite good. While You Were Sleeping and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days are horrific.
Most of “chick flicks” seem to fall into two categories: the ongoing struggle between women and men and the Myth of the Princess. The first of these themes is fascinating; it is an eternal mystery how men and women ever manage to pair up and make a life together. On the other hand, the enduring appeal of the childish story of the princess (or scullery maid due to be transformed to princess status) who is rescued by her prince is eternally annoying. The fairy tales written by Charles Perrault go back more than 300 years and had a specific meaning in their time. Today, young girls are encouraged to be like little princesses, which usually means that they become indolent royalty, their every wish indulged.
But I digress.
Music & Lyrics is cute, but not transcendent. Hugh Grant has developed a very interesting transformation to his career, moving from floppy-haired, stammering nice guys to shallow egotists with no illusions about themselves. Drew Barrymore is okay; there are hints that her character is not just goofy and quirky, but actually damaged and self-destructive, but this is a romantic comedy and such things are just hinted at.
I suppose the true appeal of the film is its celebration of disposable Eighties pop (a fave of mine) and pop music in general. Grant’s character has a speech in which he argues that a three-minute record has more impact than a novel, a stance I wholeheartedly support. Barrymore’s character is a failed writer that turns out to have a knack for writing lyrics. Are they great lyrics? Is the song they create a masterpiece? The answer to both these questions is “no,” but that’s as it should be. This writing team is not a pair of artists, but craftsmen and there is honor in that.
Tags: chick flicks, Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, Music & Lyrics
6 Responses
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The Pop View Says:
In Entertainment Weekly a few weeks ago, Jeff Giles wrote:
Many years from now, scientists will invent a microscope powerful enough to tell How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Failure to Launch apart.
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Béatrice Says:
“How to lose a guy in ten days” is a great movie. I remembered having cried laughing! To me, this film has a lot of charm!
P.S:”horrific” is a pejorative word, right?
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The Pop View Says:
I mean “horrific” in the sense that watching that movie gives me the creeping horrors. I just saw a couple minutes of it on TV this past weekend. Painful.
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Béatrice Says:
Some scenes are hilarious. You have to watch the movie in his entirety!
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Béatrice Says:
in ITS entirety (sorry)
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The Pop View Says:
HtLaGi10D is typically of the clumsy rom-com, in that situations are forced and actors overplay their parts. Much like While You Were Sleeping and You’ve Got Mail, good actors ham it up without subtlety while their characters are pushed around by the plot. And I have to agree with Roger Ebert:
I am just about ready to write off movies in which people make bets about whether they will, or will not, fall in love. The premise is fundamentally unsound, since it subverts every love scene with a lying subtext. Characters are nice when they want to be mean, or mean when they want to be nice. The easiest thing at the movies is to sympathize with two people who are falling in love. The hardest thing is to sympathize with two people who are denying their feelings, misleading each other, and causing pain to a trusting heart.
Is there a decent movie to be made out a plot where one partner is forcing a breakup but is secretly thwarted by the other partner forcing the relationship to continue? Absolutely. Just not this movie.