Alex Fletcher(HUGH GRANT)is a washed-up ‘80s pop star who's been reduced to working the nostalgia circuit at country fairs and amusement parks. The charismatic and talented musician gets a chance at a comeback when reigning pop 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. Enter Sophie Fisher(DREW BARRYMORE),Alex's beguilingly quirky plant lady,whose flair for words strikes a chord with thestruggling songwriter. On therebound from a bad relationship with the newly famous novelist Sloan Cates(CAMPBELL SCOTT), Sophie is reluctant to collaborate with anyone,especially commitment-phobe Alex. As their chemistry heats up at the piano and under it, Akex and Sophie will have to face to their fears-and the music-ifthey want to find the love and success they both deserve.

The film also stars Brad Garrett as Alex's steadfast manager,Chris Riley and Kristen Johnston as Sophie's sister,Rhonda,who happens to be one of Alex's biggest fans. Newcomer Haley Bennett plays young pop princess Cora Corman. Written and directed by Marc Lawrence,MUSIC AND LYRICS is produced by Martin Shafer and Liz Glotzer. The executive producers are Nancy Juvonen,Hal Gaba and Bruce Berman.

For filmmaker Marc Lawrence,writing and directing MUSIC AND LYRICS was a way to explore a world he's always been interested in - the world of writing music. “Even though I've been in a band, I'm a really bad musician,”he laments,“but I've always been fascianted by songwriting. I liked the idea of doing a film about a writer,but if I were to write about a screenwriter,it would get too close to my own personal agony,”he jokes.“So this was a way to write about the creative process,which I'm very familiar with,and also to write about my other great love:music.”

“Alex was psrt of a Wham-like band known as‘PoP', and his partner went on to great solo success;however Alex's career went absolutely the other way.Now,his only reliable gigs are state fairs and small local amusement parks,but even those are starting to look like shots.” 　Luckily for Alex,fortune smiles on him when the music industry's current“It Girl,”Cora Corman,decides she wants him to write her next song.

Although,as a member of PoP,Alex produced several hits in the‘80s,he has never written lyrics.He also faces a tight turnaround time to write the song,and knows that he is going to be competing against other artists for the one available spot on Cora's album.Alex has only days to come up with a hit and reclaim his career. 　Enter Sophie Fisher, a former writeing student who has never attemted to write lyrics and,due to a bad break up with her writing professor,believe she'll never write anything again.“As it turns out however,she has a natural ability to write lyrics,”reveals Lawrence.

Sophie and Alex only meet by chance when the directionless Sophie comes to Alex's apartment to water his plants,a job she's doing temporarily to help a friend.“Alex wasn't unhappy with his life when he meets Sophie,”says Lawrence.“He's had to downsize and he's no longer a bi star but he's comfortable and he thinks he's figured out who he is. But then he opens his door one day and this exotic bird flies in and flaps around and flies out and he has this very strong reaction.HE says,‘What was that?’Meeting Sophie gradually begins to change his life.” 　The director continues,“Sophie is similar in that she doesn't want to rock the boat.She had her heart broken by her former professor and boyfriend,Sloan Cates,who betrayed her by writing a thinly veild fictional account of their relationship,which is now a bestselling book. It's a very unflattering portrayal that calls Sophie an‘imitation of a writer who had no real talent or ability.’Naturally this crushes Sophie,and she finds it impossible to write again.” 　“When Sophie meets Alex,they're both sort of running on a treadmill and not moving forward at all. Both have lost the belief that they can create something beautiful and meaningful,”notes Drew Barrymore who plays Sophie in the film.“So here are these two lost souls who come together to write a song,and they do open each other up again to the fact that they have something to offer the world,to themselves and,ultimately,to each other.”

But before they realize they can makae great music together Alex tries to work with another lyricist and the collaboration fails miserably. Sophie,who happens to be tending to Alex's plans at the time,auggests a lyric or two,and Alex seizes on it,asking her to come up with more phrases. Sophie is reluctant but Alex realizes that he must drag the song out of her or put the final nail in the coffin of his career. Suddenly,these two people who don't know each other at all are thrust into a situation where they have to work together,intensely,for entire days at a time. 　“These are two artists with very different styles,and suddenly they're locked in a room together. Their individual quirks begin to emerge and they really get to know each other the way you can with somebody in an intense period,”notes the director.