The Rewrite

Directed by Marc Lawrence, The Rewrite follows Hugh Grant’s Keith Michaels as he arrives at a small East Coast college to teach screenwriting and subsequently finds himself embroiled in a series of complications. Filmmaker Lawrence, armed with his own screenplay, delivers an agreeable (if decidedly generic) romantic comedy that benefits substantially from the compelling, charismatic efforts of its star, as Grant offers up a commanding performance that ultimately goes a long way towards smoothing over the narrative’s various bumps and lulls – with the actor’s terrific turn certainly matched by a top-flight supporting cast that includes Marisa Tomei, Chris Elliott, and Allison Janney. (J.K. Simmons, cast as the head of the aforementioned college, offers up scene-stealing work that remains an ongoing highlight within the proceedings.) The continuing inclusion of questionable attributes, including (and especially) a silly recurring bit involving a Star Wars-obsessed undergraduate, ultimately wreaks havoc on the picture’s forward momentum and overall impact, however, although the appealing bent of Keith’s encounters with Tomei’s Holly Carpenter, coupled with a completely satisfying finish, makes it easy enough to overlook the picture’s periodic missteps – with the end result a decent-enough romcom that would hardly be worth mentioning were it not for Grant.

**1/2 out of ****