The Rewrite (2014)

Directed by: Marc Lawrence
Country: USA

Movie Review: “The Rewrite” may be the most interesting work of writer/filmmaker Marc Lawrence, author of light romantic comedies such as “Two Weeks Notice”, “Music and Lyrics”, and “Did You Know About the Morgans?”, but its product still remains very far from satisfying. Hugh Grant continues to be Lawrence’s first choice for the male leading role, and despite his efforts and commitment, the film ends up being a flop both as comedy and romance. Keith Michaels (Grant) is a divorced screenwriter who became famous in 1998 with “Paradise Misplaced”, winning an Academy award. Currently he’s facing a creative crisis that leads him to teach at Bingamthon University, upstate New York. Keith is a great talker but reveals a huge lack of vocation concerning his new job. Insecure and unavailable at first, he will find his own strategies to conquer everyone’s heart, even the extremely severe Professor Mary Welden  (Allison Janney), an unpopular Jane Austen scholar. Among new friendships, talent discoveries, and some headaches for dismissing the class and having an illicit relationship with Karen (Bella Heathcote), a problematic student, Keith will find a helping hand on Holly Carpenter (Marisa Tomei), an enthusiastic sophomore and single mother, with whom he falls in love. Too standardized in presentation and derivative as concept, the gentle yet indifferent “The Rewrite” will hardly impress the fans of the genre, since the romance was too predictable and dispassionate, while the humor was mostly unproductive – exception made when Welden surprises Keith having an inflamed conversation with Karen during his ‘office time’. Did “The Rewrite” need to be rewritten? Definitely yes!