Far too little originality ... to make the film anything other than a disposable rom-com triviality.

| Original Score: C | Jul 3, 2007

It's more fun than a Spandau Ballet/Tears for Fears concert circa 1985, and I mean that in a good way.

Full Review | Feb 20, 2007

Light, sweet and agreeably confident

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 20, 2007

This isn't just a chick flick wallowing in moon-spoon-June levels of Hallmark mush; it's the 'Macarena' of cut-rate rom-coms.

| Original Score: 1/6 | Feb 17, 2007

We're clearly deep into romantic-comedy territory here, so it's a good thing we're also in the hands of excellent guides.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Feb 17, 2007

I don't think the ending is up to the rest of the movie, but Grant and Barrymore are great together, and the movie has both zing and song.

| Feb 15, 2007

Drew Barrymore is that rare movie starlet who can handle the comedy end of romantic comedy, but she coasts through her underwritten role as a goofy plant sitter recruited by Grant to write his lyrics.

| Feb 15, 2007

As the suave '40s-style romance Lawrence clearly means it to be, Music and Lyrics is strictly easy listening.

Full Review | Feb 15, 2007

What Grant lacks in credibility as a lover he makes up for in eagerness to please. He wickedly skewers the music of the 1980s -- he sings! he dances! -- while at the same time reminding us of the cruel reality of disposable pop stardom.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 14, 2007

[It] won my heart for what it didn't do: all the moments it could have strained for farce or confessional self-disclosure, and instead turned its attention back to the problem at hand.

| Feb 14, 2007

It's not a great movie, but for a Valentine's Day date this year, you could do a lot worse.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 14, 2007

Grant strikes precisely the right note with regard to Alex's career: He's too intelligent not to be a little embarrassed, but he's far too brazen to feel anything like shame.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 14, 2007

After the plethora of alleged comedies we've been getting lately, this feel-fine rom-com with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore is a perfect warm-hearted, heart-shaped antidote to the winter blahs.

Full Review | Feb 14, 2007

More substantial than a sugary treat, this crunchy rom-com with Hugh Grant as a has-been popster and Drew Barrymore as a never-was poet (they collaborate on a hit song) is simply irresistible.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 14, 2007

Too bad director Lawrence tends to hit you over the head with the jokes in his script.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 14, 2007

Grant is as smarmily sarcastic as ever, but Barrymore constantly pulls him back. Despite her record number of bad role choices, she may be the warmest comedy actress around, and you can't help rooting for her.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 14, 2007

When the movie zooms in on their fruit-and-nutcake relationship, it's adorable, too.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 14, 2007

Most of the musical numbers, including the central song, are unexpectedly catchy and believable. Thanks for that goes to songwriter Adam Schlesinger of the band Fountains of Wayne.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 14, 2007

As Hugh Grant ages, something is becoming clear: The actor's most compelling attribute is not his floppy forelock but the vein of charming self-loathing that has always been pulsing under his masterfully mussed-up hair.

| Original Score: B- | Feb 14, 2007

Every Valentine's Day should be blessed with a confection as fluffy, light and satisfying as Music and Lyrics, a date movie filled with laughs and tunes and nothing too terribly serious to say.

| Original Score: B | Feb 14, 2007