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Filmtracks Recommends: Buy it... if you enjoyed the playfulness John Ottman's very similar Goodbye Lover and seek the composer's more instrumentally and rhythmically creative work. Avoid it... if the lightweight nature of Ottman's parody of detective thrillers doesn't appeal to your yearning for the darker shades of Ottman's effective horror scores. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Compared to his bland superhero work for Fantastic Four earlier in 2005, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a welcome return to the more intelligently subtle styles that have attracted Ottman so many fans. With a limited budget, this score shares more than just the sense of humor with Goodbye Lover, but also the similar sound of accentuated solo performances over a synthesized bed of rhythms. An overdubbed orchestra in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is sufficient to convey the ideas that Ottman had in mind, but the sometimes two-dimensional environment of this score could great have benefited from a full ensemble, especially in the string "mystery theme" and the occasional rips of brass that punctuate the comedy. A delicate piano theme for the love interest plays to the girl's attachment to mystery novels with a playful spin on the detective genre with light choir and harmonious sax (the sax here is reminiscent of James Horner's Sneakers while the trailing end of the theme does the same for Ottman's own Incognito). An electric piano over bass rhythms set the backdrop for wild sax and brass riffs that exist in various levels throughout the score to represent the quirky humor. These three thematic ideas weave in and out with Ottman's usual loyalty to their structures, though none of them stand out as a clear winner in your memory after the score finishes. Overall, the listening experience is cute and fuzzy, with some outward parody of detective thrillers, and in these regards, the score tumbles, rolls, and bounces along with much the same carefree attitude as Bubble Boy, even in its more serious, faux-thriller moments. The highlight of the album is easily the opening two cues; the "Main Titles" were thought so highly of by the director and producer that the film had an animated title sequence made specifically to the cue. The fair-weather album ends with an unfortunate, unrelated light rock song co-written and performed by the star of the film, Robert Downey Jr. Overall, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a lightweight, but offers Ottman at his most comfortable. ***
The insert includes extensive notes about the film and score by the director and composer. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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