Sometimes movie-makers make it too easy for movie-critics to do their job. Case in point: any movie that has anything to do with movie-making is automatically asking for pun based savagery if it’s not up to snuff, which The Rewrite most certainly is not. A movie about screenwriting, called The Rewrite, which itself has a bad screenplay? Must... not... use... lazy... one-liners...
Hugh Grant plays a former Oscar-winning screenwriter who has since seen his star diminish, and in the midst of peril decides to take on a screenwriter’s teaching position in an Upper New York State college. Two scenes later, he’s already sleeping with one of his more attractive female students, even though the far more age appropriate Marisa Tomei is also taking his class, but surely the movie isn’t going to take that well-travelled route? And we’re hoping a film about screenwriting would also like to avoid the obvious rom-com trappings of music-set montages, the protagonist learning from his students during an emotional low-point, upsetting the uptight Head Of Ethics, or any other of the myriad tropes these types of films would normally have.
Instead, The Rewrite almost acts as a checklist for what every generic, run-of-the-mill romantic comedy should have, almost like a ‘Writing Romantic Comedies For Dummies’ book, adapted for the big screen. It’s difficult to believe that THIS was the script that pulled Grant out of semi-retirement, considering it’s almost a carbon copy of his role in Music & Lyrics, which shouldn’t come as a surprise as it comes from the same writer/director. In fact, the same writer/director whose own CV looks like an elephant’s graveyard of generic rom-coms: Miss Congeniality 2, Did You Hear About The Morgans?, Forces Of Nature and Two Weeks Notice to name but some.
It’s not entirely without merit, as Grant does share some nice, punchy scenes with Tomei, and the rest of the better-than-this-tripe supporting cast including J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney should be commended for arriving on set and showing enthusiasm for something that isn’t so much bad, as it is entirely lacking in any kind of effort or originality.
Another go at the screenplay for The Rewrite probably wouldn’t have done it any good, as there are sometimes stories just better off not being told in the first place.