A romantic comedy following Alex Fletcher, a washed-up '80s pop star who's been reduced to working the nostalgia circuit at county fairs and amusement parks. The charismatic and talented musician gets a chance at a comeback when reigning diva Cora Corman invites him to write and record a duet with her, but there's a problem--Alex hasn't written a song in years, he's never written lyrics, and he has to come up with a hit in a matter of days.

After Christmas, Valentine's Day is one of the most commercial days in the calendar, where prices of roses quadruple and pink hearts are adorning every corner of the shopping mall. Hence, we have "Music And Lyrics", starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore - another romantic comedy to bring the mushy, feel-good moments to the surface.

The movie kicks off with a music video, made up in a very cheesy manner as a sort of a tribute to the early days when we had Duran Duran and Wham singing on MTV. This time, though, we are introduced to the '80s group Pop doing their hit single Pop Goes My Heart, with velcro and rouge make-up and heavy-on-gel hair. And really tight pants. Later, it cuts to a scene about 20 years later, where we see Alex Fletcher (Hugh Grant), who was the bassist and pianist in the group, sitting in a boardroom being pitched a new TV series idea called "Battle of the '80s Has-Beens". He looks tired, older, greyer but still wears tight pants. He's now singing at amusement parks and nostalgic events, just a shadow of his Pop heyday.

Alex's manager, Chris (Brad Garrett) tells him of an opportunity to make a comeback, by writing a duet song for the biggest pop star in the industry - the slightly insane diva Cora Corman (Haley Bannett) who is "bigger than Britney and Christina put together" - and performing the duet with her. The problem? He is terrible at writing lyrics, and has less than a week to find a lyricist to put the song together.

Enter his plant lady, Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore) - quirky, eccentric and talks without a full stop or a pause in her sentence - who, to no one's surprise, just so happens to write 'astoundingly good' lyrics. But Sophie is haunted by her own past -- a relationship with her college professor Sloan Cates (Campbell Scott), who broke up with her and wrote a best-seller based on her. So Alex needs to convince her to write for him in all ways possible, yet it's curious why doesn't he just pay her to write? No wonder she's hesitant.

Director Marc Lawrence, who wrote the script as well, creates a nice little story about the music industry's 'dog-eat-dog' world, where just about anyone is replaceable, and image is the key thing to this. There's a underlying story, about how lyrics form the backbone of the song, and how music complements the lyrics - without one, the other cannot work - but sadly, the message gets trampled under a lot of boring, unnecessary discussions between Alex and Sophie. The story might have done better as a novel, rather than a movie.

Alex, being the English gentlemen, has his dry humour and witty lines to make him seem charming, yet it seems so forceful and fake that you can't help but cringe. It seemed that Hugh Grant had to undergo professional training to sing and dance in this movie. If that's the best he could come up with, well, in the words of Simon Cowell, "You can't sing; you can't dance; so what do you want me to say?"

Drew Barrymore starts off in the movie by being an eccentric and funny Sophie, but sort of mellows down in the middle. At this point, we see Sophie's walls crumbling, her layers of eccentricity breaking down and what remains is, well, rather boring. With her acting, Barrymore sort of revisits her role in "50 First Dates", so there isn't anything new here.

Supporting stars Brad Garrett and Kristen Johnston are always a delight to watch. Garrett (who plays Robert in "Everybody Loves Raymond") and Johnston (as Sally from "3rd Rock from the Sun") are true comedians, and their roles here are the saving grace to the whole film.

The scenes which may stand out for Asian viewers would be the statue of Buddha, and the backup male dancers dressed in saffron monk robes gyrating with a barely covered Cora Corman during her song "Buddha's Delight", in front of the statue. The director seems to have crossed the line between artistic expression and tackiness.

At the end of the day, "Music And Lyrics" is a nostalgic trip into the music genre that was such a hit back in the '80s - put up against the new and hip rhythmic styles of the new generation. So on one hand, you have really cheesy, pop music and on the other, you have the mesh of hip hop styles influenced by the Britney Spears generation.

The 'Pop' music video is just about the most entertaining part of the movie. For the rest of the film, we see Alex working with the eccentric Sophie to come up with the lyrics and music for Cora's hit song; gtting writer's block, taking walks to stimulate the brain, getting to know each other. At this point, you know that they're going to kiss, sleep with each other, and then there's going to be a conflict, with a climax point, and then the finale happy ending where there's a song and dance and they kiss. At this point, if a movie-goer knows exactly how it's going to pan out, all he or she can do is just sit. And wait.

I want to say I really like the movie. But it's hard, especially when you know that this is just another romantic comedy that lacks the 'oomph' and the zest to make it stand out.

It's a movie to bring your girlfriend, wives and loved ones to when it opens on Valentine's Day. Just don't ask your beer-drinking buddies to stand in line and wait for tickets, though.

Trivia question: Now, if you were a has-been pop musician living in a one-room apartment, would you hire someone to water your indoor plants which can be counted with all the fingers on one hand? This, ladies and gentlemen, is just one of the many off-key conceits in a rather contrived rom-com slotted for Valentine's Day.

We shall not go into any more of the 'screechy' notes of "Music And Lyrics" but concentrate on the 'groovy' moments instead. For one, it is interesting to see former heart-throb Hugh Grant doing self-parody as a has-been in the entertainment industry. In this role, he doesn't really have to act.

"Music And Lyrics" starts off introducing Alex Fletcher (Grant) as a Wham!-like keyboardist strutting their stuff (and butts) in the Eighties when his band Pop was in its heyday. After the turn of the century, Alex is now a theme park singer who is offered a chance to duet with America's top teen pop sensation, Cora Corman (Haley Bennett). All he has to do is to compose a duet number for her concert and he would be on his way to making a comeback.

Trouble is, Alex has not written a lyric in years and is suffering from a huge dose of writer's block. And this is where the 'plant lady' comes in. When Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore) unconsciously completes his sentences while watering his plants, he figures that she should be his lyricist. He persuades her to take up the job - but first, she has to get over her trauma of a scandalous relationship with her college professor (Campbell Scott) who has written a best-seller on their affair.

It is an understatement to say that "Music And Lyrics" is poorly contrived and predictable. Writer-director Marc Lawrence (of "Two Weeks Notice") makes no apologies for it and even uses our familiarity with romantic comedies and the Eighties pop culture to fuel the narrative. He has Grant looking worn-out and haggard to drive home that has-been factor; he makes Cora a combination of Britney Spears and Shakira to juxtapose contemporary sex-pop with 'ancient' psychedelic Pop music; and he has subplots about idol-worshipping with Sophie's older sister (Kirsten Johnston) falling all over Alex at one of his concerts.

Grant and Barrymore manage to pull it off as romantic lovers but don't expect many sparks here. All you would get are the usual gestures by Grant when he tries to look charming. Why, he didn't even bother to hide his paunch during a morning-after sequence. Barrymore, on the other hand, still looks ravishing and, more importantly, makes her role more credible than what is apparently on the script.

Brad Garrett (of TV's "Everybody Loves Raymond") is great to watch as Alex's friend and manager and he has a few nifty lines. For eye candy, we have some catchy dances by Bennett who actually looks like a cross between Christina Aguilera and Shakira, both of whom she spoofs.

With cardboard Cupids and hearts adorning the shopping malls everywhere, this is the season to be silly and who can blame film-makers like Lawrence for pandering to this mood?