Who says Americans don’t do irony? In their fourth collaboration, US writer-director Marc Lawrence has placed actor Hugh Grant in the role of ‘belligerent fish-out-of-water who becomes reluctantly fixated on an unconventional love interest’ – and has called it The Rewrite. That’s pretty ironic, if you ask me, since their previous efforts produced Did You Hear About The Morgans?, Music And Lyrics and Two Weeks Notice.
In this latest turn on the merry-go-round, Grant stars as a washed-up screenwriter who once collected accolades, but is now forced to teach at a college. It is here that he finds himself drawn to a single mother trying to study there. His co-star in this ground-breaking effort is Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei, who fills the inter-changeable role of ‘woman who looks doe-eyed at bumbling Brit while he makes a declaration of love in front of other people.’ The pair is inexplicably joined by the outstanding talents of Allison Janney (Bad Words) and J.K Simmons (Burn After Reading), whom one can only assume were well-compensated.
We all know that trailers are not the most reliable evidence on which to preconceive notions about a motion picture, but given the track record of the creative partnership between Grant and Lawrence, I think we’re on safe ground. Is there anything here that suggests The Rewrite is in any way distinct from their past output? Not really. Grant is a smarmy, somewhat manipulative, yet beleaguered soul in need of love and understanding, while Tomei seems to be the standard two-dimensional male ideal of ‘desirable single mother’ (“Look how she challenges his carefully constructed world!” “Look how she doesn’t notice him gazing lovingly at her while she selflessly dances with her two adorable and funny children!”).
Americans may well do irony, but not so much that they would actually want to watch it, it would seem. Currently, The Rewrite is due for release in the UK on October 8th, 2014, while a US release date has yet to be set. Please feel free to voice your disappointment about that in the comments section below the trailer.
