Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #751
Written 3/12/00, Revised 7/20/08
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Buy it... only if you absolutely adored the comedic, mock thriller
and jazz underscore in the film itself.
Avoid it... if you're typically bothered by Randy Edelman's
tendency to nearly ruin a score by relying on his low-budget synthetics
rather than an enthusiastic, live performing ensemble.
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| Edelman |
The Whole Nine Yards: (Randy Edelman) At least
screenwriter Mitchell Kapner and director Jonathan Lynn tried something
new, even if it didn't entirely work. In attempting to insert comedy
into a noir thriller with a hitman at the center of it, the filmmakers
failed to keep The Whole Nine Yards from sliding down the
slippery slope into the realm of dumb parody. The fact that stupidity
was not the intended effect is the primary reason for the film's failure
(though while critics blasted it, American audiences loved it), and any
hopes that a serious thriller could result from the script were blasted
away by a badly assigned cast. That is, of course, except for Bruce
Willis, whose charming but slightly sinister persona carried the film by
itself. The director had collaborated with composer Randy Edelman in the
past, and The Whole Nine Yards fits the familiar mould of music
that Edelman usually provides for these projects (and My Cousin
Vinny most specifically). One could consider it the least enjoyable
part of Edelman's career, for it rarely transcends the ridiculous
cliches of parody with any kind of truly intelligent or divergent twist.
In many ways, The Whole Nine Yards is a bit different, because
Willis' involvement causes the score to adapt to him personally. What
Edelman has written is ironically an adept match for Willis'
personality. If you ever had the privilege of witnessing Willis perform
at one of his Planet Hollywood restaurants, then you could suffer deja
vu when listening to the score for The Whole Nine Yards. Randy
Edelman's primary theme of snazzy jazz for the score represents the
character of Jimmy the Tulip, and therefore Willis, in remarkably
accurate fashion. Some of that identity is lost in the film because of
the extensive use of source songs, many of which appear on the
soundtrack album. But make no mistake about it; while the music is
distinctively appropriate for the character of the film, it is largely
unlistenable on album, for several reasons. The fact that it's an
incredibly dumb score, likely an intentional move by Edelman, is only
the start of the problems.
The tone of
The Whole Nine Yards is that of an
awkward orchestral and synthetic blend, which itself is nothing new for
Edelman. The aforementioned main theme is heard in "Jimmy the Tulip," "A
Swingin' Barbecue," and "The Tulip Reprise," and you'll want to throttle
someone by the time you're done with the low saxophone, dated Hammond
organ, rapid-fire snare, meandering double bass, and chopping staccato
string rhythm, not to mention the faux-French interlude on accordion
that reminds us (badly) that the film is located in Montreal. This is
truly one of the most obnoxious and irritating themes ever concocted for
the big screen, which is partly why it's hard for anyone to take this
film seriously. There is a good George S. Clinton parody theme that
could come out of this, but Edelman's work is just a mockery of too many
genres to appreciate it on any level. His work in the rest of the score
is equally suspect. An attempt to capture Eastern European melodrama
with his theme for the Gogolak crime family is heard on sappy strings in
"The Gogolak Mansion" and then extensively in the cues between "Scheming
on the Boat" and "The Games' Afoot." At least this sleazy idea is
somewhat listenable. Fragments of remaining ideas are introduced in
other sections, including a sensitive orchestral idea as the primary
love theme for the two female characters and their exploits. But those
motifs are completely lost in the mix of jumbled material assembled on
album. The lengthy product not only inserts the songs intermittently
between early score tracks, but it also provides them in their natural,
snapshot succession. None of the cues is over two minutes in length, and
with the genre changing from cue to cue (you'll never know what
direction Edelman takes the jazz at any moment), the listening
experience is extremely fragmented and inconsistent. The fact that
Edelman relies upon his electronics more often than not is a detriment
to the style that he's trying to convey. The cheap sound of the music,
ironically, contributes to its comedic effect. In the end, everything
comes out flat, and outside of the performances for the lead character's
theme, most of the score lacks the enthusiasm to truly make it float in
the genre. On album,
The Whole Nine Yards falls eight yards
short.
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Bias Check:
For Randy Edelman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.05
(in 20 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.16
(in 29,260 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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