THE REWRITE (2014)

Genre: Romance/Comedy
Director: Marc Lawrence
Cast: Hugh Grant, Marisa Tomei, Allison Janney, J.K. Simmons, Chris Elliott
RunTime: 1 hr 47 mins
Rating: PG13 (Brief Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 16 October 2014

Synopsis: Fifteen years ago, screenwriter Ray Michaels (Grant) won an Academy Award®. As a successful, witty, sexy Englishman in Hollywood, the world was his oyster. Years later, he’s creatively washed up, divorced and broke but still very much the center of his own universe. With no other options, he’s forced to take a job teaching screenwriting at a small college. Although he believes the work to be beneath an Oscar®-winner, he hopes to make some easy money and enjoy the favors of impressionable young co-eds. What he doesn’t expect to find is the single mother (Tomei), a mature student who winds up teaching Ray a few hilarious and heartwarming lessons of her own.

Movie Review:

Superficially, The Rewrite resembles Music and Lyrics with the jaded washed-out male lead who was once a promising talent in his field and a chirpy female lead who essentially turns his life out. And little wonder that’s the case considering this is another Marc Lawrence-Hugh Grant collaboration.

Other than the resemblance in plot/protagonists, The Rewrite is similarly as entertaining  as Music and Lyrics. Hugh Grant delivers as the flawed yet charming dithering British man-child, Keith Michaels who is cynical yet insecure. As a has-been Hollywood scriptwriter who is forced to take up a creative writing job at a university, he states upfront that he has no intention to teach and dismisses his class for one month at his first lesson. And the criteria for being able to make it into his creative writing class? For the women – good looks (or peskiness in Holly’s case) and the men – bad looks (so that they won’t pose any competition to him).

When his counterfoil, the perky Holly (portrayed by Marissa Tomei) who believes that you can do anything if you set your mind to it, appears, you know he will be able to redeem himself. It’s just a matter of the journey he has to take - i.e. be forced to actually teach thanks to a Jane Austen-loving colleague to whom he utters witty yet suicidal lines, gets into trouble by sleeping with a student and turns down his opportunity for a comeback at Hollywood to go back to teaching.

Unfortunately, only Keith Michaels’ character is given more of a personality. While the rest of the cast put in commendable performances, their characters are mostly stereotypes. It would have been nice to see more depth in terms of character development.  

Movie Rating:

(The Rewrite is a thoroughly enjoyable romcom thanks to its strong cast and witty lines; stay for the credits where you get to watch some entertaining side scenes)

Review by Katrina Tee