I’ve been itching a bit to see Music & Lyrics for the last few weeks – I can’t think of a Hugh Grant film I didn’t like, and while I’m not a fan of Drew Barrymore, I don’t think she’s bad enough to negate Hugh – but hadn’t had much luck. I’d suggested it to Rob a few weeks back after Laserforce one night, but he’s certain he doesn’t like any current movies, so he declined. Pfft. :P
I also tried gently angling towards that last Friday at Crown, but again it was shot down.
My luck turned Saturday when I suggested it to dad, and so we went on down to Mornington to see it. I wasn’t certain it’d be that great, but was pleasantly surprised. It’s a pretty typical feel-good romantic comedy, like most of Hugh Grant’s movies, but with a welcome musical bend – the 80’s pop spoof “Pop Goes My Heart” is really funny, even though it’s not really overtly mocking; it’s funny mainly because it’s so close to reality. :) I’m also told that all the actors and actresses involved really did sing their parts in the movie – the official soundtrack lists them as the performers, I’ve noted. However, when interviewed Hugh revealed they used autotuners and multisampling, among probably other things, although he did at least learn to sing & play piano a little. Drew Barrymore apparently had less fiddling, and Haley Bennett (“Cora Corina”) has apparently already recorded her first album, although at the time of the interview I’m reading hadn’t found a publisher (shouldn’t be a problem now the movies’ out, I shouldn’t think :) ).
Anyway, yeah, it was good. :) We were in the lounge room (i.e. the upstairs cinema), which was a little cosy and mildly uncomfortable, but, meh. I was surprised a bit at the audience – 90% of them were seniors. There were two girls probably a few years younger than me, but other than them and ourselves, all older. I guess it’s a pretty universal film, but with all the other arty films Mornington shows, I wouldn’t think it’d be the first pick for the older generation(s).
So now I just need to find someone willing to see Ghost Rider, another one I’ve had no luck attracting interest in. I quite like mainstream comic book conversions – I was really quite peeved last night when The Punisher, as listed in the TV guide, was replaced by some B.S. CSI crap… grerasdfgglkhdafgkdvakjdsfghadglk…. one day when I’m rich and famous, I’ll buy the rights to and copies of every CSI-anything ever made and put them on a rocket into the sun. It’ll be the largest single philanthropic act in human history.
ahem Anyway, that aside, I think Ghost Rider looks like it’d be fun enough, despite what egomaniacal, insecure critics think.
Also, final thought, I liked the supporting actors – Brad Garrett from Everybody Loves Raymond, Jason Antoon as his trade-mark weird guy from various movies, and Kristen Johnston from 3rd Rock from the Sun.
