I and my wife are suckers for a good English romantic comedy, especially one featuring Hugh Grant, so we were looking forward to the current one, “Music and Lyrics,” with Grant and Drew Barrymore.
Unfortunately, this one wasn’t so great. The writing was very bad, very sit-commy, gagwise.
Anyway, the upshot is that the most enjoyable part for me was the Pop! video, the parody of the '80s pop group.
I definitely saw elements of Wham! in there – the band with two prominent characters – one who became a big star and the other who faded away quickly.
And there seemed to be so many real-life antecedents. I got a whiff of Duran Duran, but I can’t nail down exactly which element.
And Hugh Grant’s frilly collar – where did that come from? Spandau Ballet?
What other real-life antecedents do you see from the movie’s depiction of Pop?
You named all the ones I thought of. Grant’s character was obviously the Andrew Ridgely to “Colin”'s George Michael, but the difference was that Grant’s character was still a talented songwriter, whereas in Wham!, George Michael was definitely the brains AND talent of the operation. The POP! video referenced Duran Duran the most, particularly with the synth player only using a few fingers, and the fact that both singers were pretty-boys like Simon LeBon. And Grant’s character’s other big song, the ballad he usually sang at his solo gigs, was most reminiscent of “True” and “Gold,” the two biggest Spandau Ballet hits as sung by their crooning frontman, Tony Hadley.
I agree with you there. However, perusal of the Wikipedia entry on Wham! seems to suggest that Ridgeley was the brains behind the image and marketing of the group, even if he didn’t contribute much musically. Hm.