Grant and Barrymore make sweet 'Music' on DVD

Oakland Tribune, May 11, 2007

HUGH GRANT has gone from the charming, self-deprecating young stammerer in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" to the charming, self- deprecating middle-age stammerer in "Music and Lyrics." As a former pop star, he carries leftover swagger into the 21st century, where his fame has lost its glitter -- except among the age-appropriate women he dazzles with hip gyrations accompanying performances of his old standards at fairs and parties. (Shots of his'80s music videos wonderfully capture the period's bubble-gum pop.)

In the romantic comedy, new this week on DVD, he and Drew Barrymore, a charmer herself, have to write a song that impresses a young megastar who promises to revive his career if she likes it. Catch No. 1: They have only four days. Catch No. 2: The emotionally wounded plant waterer played by Barrymore has a gift for rhyming but no experience writing lyrics (Grant's character can only write music). Catch No. 3: He looks a little old for her.

Of course, this being the 21st century, anything goes. Also, they're both cute, and people still want to believe in happily ever after. Bottom line: It's amiable fluff.

Extras: The "Pop Goes My Heart" music video and the four-minute gag reel are fun. Also: a making-of short and deleted scenes.

Throw it back

"Catch and Release" is a poorly written romantic drama that's wrongly billed as a romantic comedy. Jennifer Garner plays a genetically bland woman whose fiance dies (blessedly, off screen) shortly before their wedding. A bucket of sorrow, she can't afford their rented apartment (she must work; don't know what at, though) so she moves in with her ex's roommates and fishing buddies (sappy Sam Jaeger and always-ready-to-quip Kevin Smith).

Adding to her confusion, she discovers her ex was wealthy and was paying child support to Juliette Lewis (perhaps because she's the film's only lively character). Eventually, she succumbs to her ex's visiting pal, the pretty-but-charmless knave (Timothy Olyphant) she overheard making love in the bathroom during the post-funeral memorial. Pointless and irritating.

Extras: An uninteresting full-length documentary with Smith interviewing director/screenwriter Susannah Grant about everything but the film for the first 55 minutes -- after which I switched to the commentary with Grant andcinematographer John Lindley; it's better but not a must-listen. Juiciest info: To keep a PG-13 rating with a sex scene, the MPAA forbids on-screen sex thrusts and zipper- adjusting shots, and it limits the number of inhale-exhale sounds.

Great escapism

"To Catch a Thief" is one of Alfred Hitchcock's most captivating films. Cary Grant, Grace Kelly and the French Riviera look stunning in the 1955 classic -- out in a new collector's edition -- about a cat burglar imitating ostensibly retired jewel thief Grant's style and making him the top suspect. Kelly plays a wealthy socialite whose diamonds -- and beauty -- are natural enticements. She and Grant are excellent together in the airy mystery-romance-adventure combo. Hitch even mixes in some slapstick.

Extras: Solid commentary (analyzes shots, describes the film as Hitchcock's most "relaxing," notes his hatred of eggs); making-of short; "An Appreciation" (Hitch's daughter and granddaughter show his mischievous and affectionate sides in family movies); a piece on Oscar-winning costume designer Edith Head; a writing-and-casting short.

'Nobody puts Baby in a corner'

It's hard not to feel affection for the "Dirty Dancing Twentieth Anniversary" two-disc set (with remastered audio). The 1963-era story and characters have become pop-culture icons. The music and dancing are hot -- and it's still a treat to see hard-knocks-school dance instructor Johnny (Patrick Swayze) spark with his innocent, insistent pupil Baby (Jennifer Grey).

Extras: A new feature with Swayze warm, sincere and passionate about dance (his mother was a choreographer), music, director Emile Ardolino and Grey (the film's about the discovery of innocence, not its loss, he says); a tribute to Jerry Orbach; outtakes (worthless); original screen tests with Swayze and Grey; alternate and extended scenes; a piece that lets you choose the camera angle for dance sequences; a Grey interview; and more.

Don't see it because I say so

"Because I Said So" is that rare romantic comedy that not only fails to be either romantic or comic but manages to make Diane Keaton unlikable and unfunny. Keaton plays a grating buttinsky with no life beyond herding her youngest and only unmarried daughter (Mandy Moore, the picture's one plus) into marrying mom's choice of men. Moore sleeps with two suitors (rigid Tom Everett Scott and sensitive Gabriel Macht) without letting either know she's seeing both. It's the year's most aggravating film.

Extras: A making-of short that I.D.'s Ty Panitz, who plays Macht's young son, as Babe Ruth's great, great, great grandson; plus more.

Classic actioner

The 1961 multi-Oscar-nominated war film "The Guns of Navarone" looks splendid in this two-disc restored version, and it's still enthralling. The story follows six Allied military specialists on an "impossible" mission into Nazi territory to destroy two huge field guns and prevent the deaths of 2,000 British soldiers. Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn and David Niven star.