The Rewrite ** ½
Dir:  Marc Lawrence
Starring: Hugh Grant, Marisa Tomei, Bella Heathcote, J.K. Simmons, Allison Janney, Chris Elliott

After two entertaining rom-coms (Two Weeks Notice, Music And Lyrics) and a comparative dud (Did You Hear About The Morgans?) Hugh Grant teams up for the fourth time with writer-director Marc Lawrence in The Rewrite.

There is a slight meta-textuality to the affair as the movie draws certain parallels to both Grant’s and Lawrence’s dwindling Hollywood careers (The Rewrite even uses footage of Grant’s 1995 Golden Globes acceptance speech for his performance in Four Weddings And A Funeral) but, otherwise, this is pretty predictable stuff.

Award-winning but no-longer popular Hollywood writer (Grant) reluctantly accepts a job teaching screenplay writing at an East Coast university to make ends meet.

There he rediscovers some meaning to his life through his odd-ball students and his equally odd-ball colleagues and most of all through the eternal optimism of the older single mother (the ever-wonderful and charming Marisa Tomei) returning to college as a student.

You know exactly where the movie is going to go from the first scene but, thanks to the familiar but affable charm of Grant and the lovely earthiness of Tomei and the believable chemistry between the two, The Rewrite goes down easy.

The redemptive nature of the tale is also sweet if much-too pat.

Cut to chase: A comforting watch for a slow afternoon.

Kmumtaz1@hotmail.com; Twitter: @KhusroMumtaz