NEW YORK - "Music and Lyrics" is a weird little hybrid of a romantic comedy that's simultaneously too fluffy and not whimsical enough.

Writer-director Marc Lawrence is definitely aiming for a retro '40s feel, with his bustling New York setting and witty characters who repeatedly burst into song. But he's infused the movie with a forced contemporary flavoring, including a Britney Spears-style pop diva and references to performers like Shakira and Justin Timberlake, and he gets too bogged down with industry types and their business meetings.

The songs are catchy, though - especially "Way Back Into Love," the tune Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore's characters craft together, which will be stuck in your head like a psychotic episode for days if not weeks to come. (It's playing in this particular critic's mental jukebox during the writing of this review. Somebody please make it stop!)

And it's nice to see Grant aging gracefully. Yes, he's only 46, but he's learned to wear his years well. He's moved past the recent bad-boy era of the "Bridget Jones" movies and seems well aware that he's far removed from the charmingly befuddled persona on which he based his career. That's charming in itself.