The Rewrite : A nice mixture of romance and comedy and very different to anything else that went out at the time. A strong story with a genuine heartwarming presence at the heart of it. Hugh Grant plays a scriptwriter who once won an oscar and now is a washed up writer who can't get any work at all and he ends up much to his dismay having to take a job teaching script writing at a dead beat university in the middle of nowhere and he's miserable but over time he comes to term with the fact that he quite likes teaching and there's a mature student in the film played by Marisa Tomei who he finds he likes even more.
Here's a trailer.
From director Marc Lawrence who directed the films, Music and Lyrics and Two Weeks Notice, The Rewrite is more than a typical romantic comedy even though there is some nice romance and some great comedy moments in it, the story tells itself really well, doesn't really boar you the pace of it is very steady and the cast are great. It has all the necessary elements to make up a good film.
It's rare to see Hugh Grant in a film on the basis that he is an actor who doesn't do that many films but after a full two decades after "Four Weddings and a Funeral", Grant still does the stammering, understated, witty and dashing performance as well as any other actor in the business. He brings a delightful balance of personality and likability to his character which helps in ways of how you can intemperate the story.
I like the story, I like the simplicity of it and I think if The Rewrite had come out in 1999 it would have gotten a far more ample promotion, as well as receiving a wider release. In 2014 the Hollywood landscape has changed just from the way films have moved on and from the way audiences have moved on in regard to what kinds of films distributors are looking for and how they are ultimately received from a public response.
Sadly in this day and age, the vast majority of people going to see a film on a nationwide scale are all about high concept plotting, franchise worthy source material and show off visual effects, there is little room in multiplexes for well written, character centric ensemble pieces - no matter how good your cast is.
Having said that, if this is your type of thing that you enjoy - go figure. 6/10
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