Article: 'Music and Lyrics' drips like muzak; Once again, a good cast and a good idea have been sacrificed on the slippery altar of soppiness.(FEATURES)(WEEKEND)

Byline: Peter Rainer Film critic of The Christian Science Monitor

Hugh Grant plays a former '80s pop teen idol in "Music and Lyrics" and he takes to the part with appalling aplomb. Early on, in the best scene in the movie, we see him in an MTV-style music video with his Duran Duran-ish group PoP, and he's garishly mod. In the present day, as an official has-been, Alex Fletcher spends most of his screen time mugging sheepishly, as if he couldn't quite face up to what he has become.

He doesn't carry on this way for his own sake. Alex is actually rather comfortable in his skin. He's made his peace with playing state fairs and high school reunions. But he ...

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