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Nine Months: (Hans Zimmer/Nick Glennie-Smith) Would anybody really have
paid attention to
Nine Months in the summer of 1995 (when theatres
were full of many outstanding films that season) if its heartthrob star,
Hugh Grant, wasn't caught in a car with a Hollywood hooker of dubious
gender? In the process of experiencing thousands of young and middle-aged
women standing in streets with big sandwich-board signs saying "I would have
done it for free, Hugh!," the movie turned out to be a moderate success at
the box office. Director Chris Columbus adapted
Nine Months himself
from the French screenplay "Neuf Mois" and attempted to once again use
individually hilarious scenes to float his newest film the same way both
Home Alone and
Mrs. Doubtfire had captured immense audience
interest. The problem with
Nine Months, however, was that Columbus
attempted to combine the slapstick comedy common in his films with a
dramatic look at issues involving pregnancy. The stellar supporting cast
stole the show away from Grant and co-star Julianne Moore with portrayals of
awkwardly funny characters, including Robin Williams' token bit role. The
film has few moments of shady emotions, with mostly one charming sequence
after another, and this lofty romantic sentimentality translated directly to
Hans Zimmer's score for the film. For a project that would have seemed
tailor-made for Rachel Portman, Zimmer actually produces a piece of music
that shares several distinct characteristics with Portman's typical writing
for the genre. Zimmer's inspiration for the film's theme was reportedly the
birth of his own child, and the omnipresent title theme in
Nine
Months is actually derivative of that idea which Zimmer had before
shooting even began on the project. The fit between Zimmer's own inspiration
and film is snug, and the resulting score would be one of few completely
innocent and lovely romance pieces that Zimmer would write in his
post-
Crimson Tide era of action and adventure.
The title theme inspired by Zimmer's child suffices in its
simple adaptation of tired, major-key progressions from classical pieces a
hundred times over. A minimal level of development in counterpoint and
instrument variation causes the standard string flourishes of this theme to
become old pretty fast. As is the case with Portman's romance scores, the
sheer lightness of the music box-approach and nearly endless clarinet
performances in
Nine Months causes the theme to over-extend its
welcome by the end of its 30+ presence on album. The theme itself seems like
an adaptation of Randy Edelman's
Kindergarten Cop, and there is a
rhythmic sequence at about 8 minutes into the "It's a Boy" cue that is
almost lifted entirely from that previous score. Ironically, the
Nine
Months score could have used substantially more of this low key rhythmic
excitement to assist in moving the score along. The only break from the
extremely consistent performances of Zimmer's theme comes with the "From
Russia..." cue, which features a more gothic interpretation of the title
theme with the deep male choral backing heard earlier in
Lion King
and later in countless scores. Written by Nick Glennie-Smith, this cue has
more comedy stuffed into its one minute than the entire rest of the score,
and it's no surprise that it is the highlight of the entire work. Zimmer
allowed himself to become hopelessly charmed by the film's overall premise,
leading to a mono-thematic and completely unwavering sense of goodness, and
he overlooks several individual humorous moments. No unique twists of
rhythm, sparks of instrumental personality, or even the slightest tempo
variation on the title theme are to be heard. If you need a mood perk, this
is a good thing, but even then, it could leave you seeking more than just an
ice cream cone by the end. On album, a healthy delivery of this score is
presented after three well known light rock romance songs of yesteryear. If
you enjoy this lighthearted variation of Zimmer and Glennie-Smith's
material, you'd be much better suited by the more developed score for
Lauras Stern nearly a decade later.
***
| Bias Check: | For Hans Zimmer reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 2.96 (in 50 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.23
(in 217,535 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film. The Van
Morrison song "These are the Days" heard at the start and end of the film is not
included on the CD.
