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Composed, Co-Orchestrated, and Co-Produced by:
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John Ottman
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Co-Orchestrated and Conducted by:
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Damon Intrabartolo
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Album Co-Produced by:
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Casey Stone
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Release Date:
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September 11th, 2001
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Availability:
Regular U.S. release.
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Filmtracks Editorial Review:
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Bubble Boy: (John Ottman) Brought back into the mainstream vocabulary of
the world by a classic episode of the TV show Seinfeld, the concept of the
"bubble boy" has been a source of much amusement for the politically incorrect
populus. The film Bubble Boy, comically portraying the teenage (coming of
age) years of such a bubble person, was an immediate critical disaster, making
one wonder once again why films like this are even attempted. The most publicity
for the project came, ironically, when the film was boycotted and blacklisted by
the "bubble people" of America (I'm sure there's a politically correct euphemism
for their unfortunate kind, but it escapes me at the moment). By speaking out
against the film's obviously poor portrayal of teenage life for a bubble boy,
they caused the film to actually gain more attention than it probably should
have... thus, defeating the point of the boycott. Anyways, the score for the
project was a task for John Ottman, who had to share the film's soundtrack with
numerous songs. Some of Ottman's rough demo/synth renderings for certain scenes
would be replaced by songs as well. Even so, over a half an hour of his material
was prominently featured in the comedy, and it's strong evidence of Ottman's
ability to toy around when he wants to.
Ten years ago, this would have been a stereotypical Danny Elfman project, with a
calling for the blending of countless genres of music and a perky comedy edge to
boot. As a matter of fact, one of my colleagues referred to Bubble Boy as
"Ottman does Elfman again." Yet another fellow writer, though, reminded us that
Ottman's talents are advertised as a blending of Elfman and Jerry Goldsmith,
which can very easily be heard in Bubble Boy. The combination of
orchestral and synthetic in this score, especially in the "cutesy" cues, does
hail back to The 'Burbs, while the handling of the orchestral alone is
parallel in many ways to Elfman scores like Flubber. It is my opinion,
however, that "Ottman does Elfman" better than Elfman can do it himself in
certain circumstances. The score for Bubble Boy exhibits a creativity on
the part of Ottman that you don't see often in small scale comedy scores
anymore. The score has surprisingly tender and thematically rich moments, with
funny interludes of jazz, country, and contemporary rock mixed in for specific
scenes. The "Girl Next Door" cue, a bluesy jazz piece for accountic
guitar/electric bass, percussion and that deep black, male's voice saying "Oh,
mama" and "Oh, baby," is the kind of comedy writing you hear less of these days.
Hints of the detail woven into Goodbye Lover are on display at several
points, too.
Ottman does, once again, reference pop culture themes and interpolate them into
ridiculous scenes in the film. As mentioned before, short bursts of songs also
litter the film. The album has been met with quite a bit of angst from
mainstream moviegoers, whose response is "the only good thing about the film was
the music." What they're referring to, unfortunately, were the songs. And with
none of the songs (aside from, perhaps the pop indentification with the
Rocky cue) on this album, people who have purchased it have often been
irritated with its score-only nature. Thrown in for the score fans, however, are
three interesting tracks that didn't make it into the final edit, including a
general demo for the film and the two cues that were lifted for songs. I
seriously doubt this album will remain long in the top 100,000 selling albums
world-wide, but it is a showcase for the kind of work that Ottman and Elfman
fans together might get a kick out of. It's certainly not consistent in any way,
jumping genres at will, but if you're in a zany mood (which is why I mention the
Elfman fans again), then Bubble Boy could be a very enjoyable listen on
album. For Ottman, I can only hope that he uses it as an exhibit to provide for
prospective employers who will learn even more quickly that he has joined the
ranks of Elfman and John Debney in his ability to score the comedy genre. If you
happen to be seeking a souvenier from the film, though, be aware that the album
is missing almost all of the punch-line songs that you probably remember the
most. ***
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Viewer Ratings and Comments:
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• 1. Birth of Bubble Boy (3:03)
• 2. Phreaks! (4:07)
• 3. Heartbroken (1:00)
• 4. End of the Ride (0:32)
• 5. Girl Next Door (1:29)
• 6. Jimmy's Adventure (2:52)
• 7. Bus Stop (1:37)
• 8. Growing Up (2:50)
• 9. The Clouds/Riding with Push Pop (2:07)
• 10. Chloe Explores (1:13)
• 11. Dumped/The Chosen One (1:04)
• 12. Jimmy Escapes (Rocky) (1:26)
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• 13. Rejections (0:56)
• 14. Next Stop (1:25)
• 15. Potty Mouth (0:54)
• 16. A Father's Love (2:09)
• 17. Cows and Ice Cream (1:48)
• 18. Phreaks to the Rescue (1:38)
• 19. Daydream (1:16)
• 20. Reunion (3:18)
Bonus Tracks:
• 21. Jimmy Escapes (1:58)
• 22. Falling Star (0:37)
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The insert includes a list of performers
in the Hollywood Studio Symphony and some advertisements for other Ottman music
on the label, but no extra information about the score or film.
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