Music and Lyrics

image for Music and Lyrics

Short takes

Not recommended under 8, PG to 13 (Sex).

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Music and Lyrics
  • a review of Music and Lyrics completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 15 February 2007.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 8 Lacks interest for children under 8.
Children aged 8 - 13 Parental guidance recommended due to sexualised images
Children over the age of 13 Should be OK with or without parental guidance

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Music and Lyrics
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild sexual references, Infrequent mild coarse language
Length: 95 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Alex Fletcher (Hugh Grant) is a washed up musician from the 80’s boy band ‘Pop’ who makes his living by appearing at local fairs and sideshows. Still adored by older women, he is also a hero to current pop phenomenon Cora Corman (Hayley Bennett) who wants him to write a song for her. Alex has been separated from his song-writing partner Colin, for fifteen years and is reluctant to take up the job, but his manager Chris Riley (Brad Garrett) persuades him of the financial imperative to do so.  Alex finds a lyricist in the unlikely person of Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore), his zany plant lady, who has a natural ability at writing. The partnership turns into a love affair although Sophie is still recovering from a previous failed relationship.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

None of concern

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is a little violence in this movie including:

  • Alex gets into a fight with Sloan Cates (Campbell Scott), Sophie’s former lover.
  • Women fight each other to get to the front of the stage.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there is a scene in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five:

  • The opening of the concert towards the end of the film includes loud noises, and images including flames, which may scare children in this age group.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

There is nothing in this movie which is likely to disturb children in this age group.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

There is nothing in this movie which is likely to disturb children in this age group.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

There is nothing in this movie which is likely to disturb children in this age group.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Coca cola

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Cora Corman is portrayed as a sex object and is seen performing in very brief clothing with men touching her all over her body. In one provocative dance she lies down and touches her breasts – Sophie later refers to it as an ‘orgasm.’
  • Alex also dances provocatively with exaggerated, gyrating hips, which sends the women wild – they all want to touch him.
  • Sophie tells her older sister, who is madly in love with Alex, that she has slept with him.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • Alex and Sophie wake up in bed together, after kissing passionately the night before. They appear to be naked, although nothing is actually shown.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Drinking of alcohol in a restaurant.
  • Alex refers to the fact that he got over his loss of fame by using drugs and alcohol.
  • There is a reference to the fact that pop stars take too many drugs.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Frequent use of ‘Oh my God’
  • “Bitch”

In a nutshell

Music and Lyrics is an entertaining romantic comedy that will appeal to adolescents.

This movie could give parents the opportunity to discuss the portrayal of young women in the music industry as sex objects.