Music and Lyrics

Hugh Grant plays a washed-up 1980s pop star, reduced to playing fairs and class reunions, who has a chance to make a sort of comeback by writing a song for the hottest diva on the planet. All he needs is a lyricist, and he finds an unexpected talent in the woman who waters his plants (Drew Barrymore). Writer-director Marc Lawrence provides his two stars with the kind of funny, easygoing vehicle he supplied for Grant and another quirky actress (Sandra Bullock) in Two Weeks Notice. Once again, the pace is sprightly, the laughs plentiful and unforced, and there are the added pleasures of a wry sendup of pop music and some surprisingly catchy songs (the two stars even do their own singing). It’s a charming diversion with the ring of truth about both the bumpy road to romance and the challenge of songwriting.