Okay, so I don’t see many movies. So sue me. So WTF is this one with Hugh Grant as some Neil Diamondish heart-throb singer? I fear I must see this (along with all his others, although Lair of the White Worm comes in for a lot more goddam crap than it deserves, Christina whatsername’s performance notwithstanding)
from Ayyyy.com
raincoaster 
This is actually a pretty funny movie, especially if you were around in the 80s – you appreciate it all the more!
I get a lot, but not ALL. I’m like, this shouldn’t be mysterious, but it is!
But what movie IS it?
The movie is “Music & Lyrics”.
Setup is Grant used to be in an 80s boy band (“Pop” – see signs/T-shirts in above video) & is now on his own, touring every smaller venues to make ends meet performing to women who remember him (i.e. ever older women). Gets a commission to write a song for a current chart topping performer… but he can only write music, not lyrics. Eventually discovers lyric writing talent in Drew Barrymore who he’s hired to water the plants in his apartment.
Hilarity & relationship follows – as always.
I’m not a great fan of Hugh Grant… he always seems to act the same person… but this, Notting Hill, About A Boy… definitely worth the rental.
Oh, and the DVD has a great fake 80s music video of his band’s original hit. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0A7dtdc-nU
Wham! meets Spandau Ballet – could only have been created by people who were there when all music videos looked like this.
It’s Music and Lyrics. Cute film.
Thanks, O Movie Savvy Friends.
Notting Hill? Great on paper, Julia Roberts acted her heart out as…Julia Roberts. But Hugh Grant imho totally phoned that one in. But I generally do like Hugh. He should work more with Sandra Bullock; they’ve got real chemistry. There was none in Notting Hill at all.
Wham meets Spandau Ballet? I’d have been a fan of that!
Never seen Hugh like this.
Me neither. Or, frankly, the crush would have been nipped in the bud.
Oh, I’m so glad Mr. Jennings there found the faux-80s video clip. People, if you haven’t partaken, go do it — esp. if you ‘did’ the 80s. It’s…beautiful!
Okay, just watched it again…and I remember now, on the DVD (I borrowed it from a friend, don’t actually own it, Rain, but we could rent it when you’re here), one of the extras is the Pop-up Video version of that song.
I can’t believe five million people viewed that clip, and I’ve never even heard of it before. Why does nobody tell me these things?
Pop-Up Video? Wow, that DOES take me back!
OK, maybe I’ll give you Notting Hill… agreed it’s a standard Grant performance, with the usual Brit supporting cast. Of that collection of identi-kit movies he did in the 90s, it’s my personal fave though.
But, if you haven’t seen it already, I think About A Boy is worth the time. Based on the Nick Hornby novel – and Hornby is an absolute master, even Grant can’t spoil it.
I’ve always wanted to see About a Boy. Nick Hornby is fantastic, of course. And it sounded like an adventurous choice for Grant, whom I remember, btw, as far back as his Oxbridge days, showing up in the Tatler drunk out of his mind and dressed as Bacchus in a revealing leopardskin toga.