An Overlooked Drew Barrymore Rom-Com Is Now Streaming Free To Watch
A Drew Barrymore movie is finding some new love on streaming.
This article is more than 2 years old
Who doesn’t love watching a good rom-com? Wait, let’s rephrase that. Who doesn’t love watching a good rom-com for free? Well, you’re in luck because YouTube Movies has an overlooked Drew Barrymore film teed up and ready to go for viewing pleasure.
Music and Lyrics is a 2007 romantic comedy written and directed by Marc Lawrence. It stars Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant in a story which follows a has-been ‘80s pop-star Alex Fletcher(Grant) as he tries to recapture his past fame by writing a song for the young megastar Cora Corman (Haley Bennett). Drew Barrymore plays Sophie Fisher, a hypochondriac who arrives at Alex’s apartment filling in for his regular plant lady.
The movie has cheese written all over it as it begins with a decidedly ‘80’s throw-back video of Pop!, the group with which Alex co-fronts. The song, “Pop Goes My Heart” is pure ‘80’s as is the production of the video which shows the band in full ‘80’s gear and also highlights Alex’s singing partner, Colin Thompson, played by Scott Porter (Racer X in Speed Racer). We then fast-forward to the present day where Alex is being pitched a new show, Battle of the ‘80’s Has-Beens, which Alex is fully on board with, that is until he finds out that the “Battle” portion of the show is boxing.
Alex comes home to his manager Chris (Brad Garrett) and while they are discussing a possible pairing with Cora, Sophie arrives. She is immediately off-putting to Alex and Chris but they don’t give her a second thought when she quickly leaves the apartment.
When Alex finally meets up with Cora, she tells Alex she would like for him to write a song for her but Alex is reluctant because when he and Colin wrote for Pop!, Colin was the wordsmith while Alex handled the tune. But Alex agrees and attempts to write the song with a hip lyricist, an attempt that fails miserably. But while this failure is going on, Sophie arrives and proves that she has a knack for the written word. Alex’s attempts to convince Sophie to help him fail as badly as his work with the hip lyricist. Eventually, though, Sophie is convinced and the two begin their songwriting relationship.
The movie is a rom-com, so of course, Hugh Grant’s Alex and Drew Barrymore’s Sophie begin to fall for each other. But Sophie has issues of her own. A failed relationship with her English professor (Campbell Scott) has caused her to be hesitant when it comes to love. When she and Alex finally finish the song, they get together with Cora at her party so Cora can premiere her take on the song. In Sophie’s eyes, it’s a disaster. Even though Alex says it’s part of the business, Sophie decides to confront Cora and though Cora appreciates Sophie’s honesty, she tells Sophie she is still going to perform the song her way. When Alex doesn’t back her, Sophie leaves, intending to start her life in Florida.
All’s well that ends well when Sophie decides to attend Cora’s concert in Florida. She finally sees Alex for who he is when he performs a song Sophie thought he was taking credit for when in actuality, he was performing a song he wrote for her.
Music and Lyrics was met with good reviews and a great box office. Drew Barrymore was still riding the high from 50 First Dates and Fever Pitch, so another rom-com was a great move for the actress. Also, the pairing of her with Hugh Grant, who was still carrying some rom-com weight himself, was inspired. Lawrence made Music and Lyrics for around $40 million for Warner Bros. and was rewarded with a nearly $146 million take at the box office.
Music and Lyrics represent only one of many romantic comedies for Drew Barrymore. She is more famously known for starring opposite Adam Sandler in the 1998 hit The Wedding Singer, then teaming up with the Sandman in 2004’s 50 First Dates, and one more time in the 2014 critically panned, but fun, Blended. Her career, though, began way back in the early ’80s with her role in Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which she followed up with Stephen King’s Firestarter. Her early success turned out to be bad news for Barrymore as drugs and alcohol would take over her young life to the point where she was in rehab at the age of 13 and then in an institution for the mentally ill for 18-months. It was a long, hard battle for Drew Barrymore, but one she eventually overcame.
Since then, Drew Barrymore has turned her life and her career around. On top of starring in some great movies, Barrymore has also turned to the other side of the camera, producing many projects. She is currently being seen on her own talk-show, The Drew Barrymore Show, and was also part of one of Netflix’s most popular series, Santa Clarita Diet.
