Rom--com a bit off--key

I went into this movie with high hopes. Since both stars had a good run in romantic comedies, I thought the combination of the two would play well together, but I was very wrong because they both lacked chemistry. Through the whole movie, everything felt very predictable and formulaic. There was the sudden-realization-they-like-each-other-after-working-together scene, the fight scene that drives them apart and makes them question their feelings and the fight-gets-worse-will-they-make-up scene that was immediately followed by the typical guy-redeems-himself-and-wins-the-girl scene.\n"Music and Lyrics," starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore and directed by Marc Lawrence, is about a washed up '80s musician and his replacement flower girl who takes care of his flowers but ends up helping write lyrics for a song to jump-start his career again.\nGrant and Barrymore suffered a slight case of typecasting: Barrymore playing a quirky yet sweet and innocent girl who falls in love and Grant playing the charming British guy who always has the perfect one-liner or response to any insult thrown his way but never shows his true emotions. I couldn't see any differences from previous movies they had starred in. All through the movie, I expected Barrymore to show up at his door saying she was "just a girl, standing in front of a boy," and then I was waiting for Grant to show up on a plane singing with a guitar about growing old and Billy Idol shaking his fist saying "now that's rock and roll," but it never happened.\nAside from the acting, the movie felt like it didn't know if it wanted to take itself seriously or be funny. The opening scene, one of the greatest parodies of '80s cheese and glam, made you think it was going to be this funny movie, yet it kept bouncing between serious and goofball. Whoever was the main part of that scene dictated the mood of the movie. Sometimes it felt like the director was trying to take cheap shots at the music industry at the same time, and these moments felt out of place.\nI'd say wait for this one to come out to video; it not worth seeing in theaters.