THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS

MARC SHAIMAN

Rating:

Original Review: A breezy and free-spirited remake of the classic Neil Simon comedy, The Out-of-Towners stars Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn in the Jack Lemmon/Sandy Dennis roles of married hicks from the Ohio sticks who undergo all manner of traumas and mishaps while on a visit to the Big Apple for a job interview. Unfortunately, the cleverness and timely satire of Simon's original premise is replaced with slapstick, resulting in a knockabout comedy with very little subtlety that simply acts as a showcase for the physical jerks of Martin and Hawn. Directed by Sam Weisman and co-starring John Cleese in high-heels, The Out-of-Towners barely got a release here in the UK, despite the popularity of its headline stars.

The resulting soundtrack album, from Milan, combines several appropriate songs with a good selection of Marc Shaiman's original score, amounting to just under 40 minutes of music. The songs are, for a change, universally good, with new arrangements of popular fifties ballads like Rodgers and Hart's "Isn't It Romantic" and Arlen and Mercer's "That Old Black Magic" performed by popular artists Mervyn Warren, Josie Aiello, Louis Prima and Keely Smith taking centre stage. A disco classic from Donna Summer and a massive performance of "Aquarius" from the hit Broadway show Hair round out the selections.

Continuing with the Broadway feeling is composer Marc Shaiman, who of course started his career as an arranger for Bette Midler. Shaiman's stage show sensibilities are given a rare example to shine in his score, a broad and lively swing piece which, with the exception of the superbly syrupy theme for Martin and Hawn in 'Embrace Life' and 'We're New Yorkers Now!', eschews the sentimental orchestral nature of his more popular works. Instead, Shaiman favours zesty, big-band arrangements with a prominent rhythm section and great solos for piano, clarinet and trumpet. Several cues, especially the lively 'Fogged In', the laid-back 'Park Avenue Stroll', the classical comical 'Fruit & Nuts', the Latino-inspired 'Seduction' and the manic 'Racing to the Interview' maintain this style, although some of the more frantic comedy chase cues do tend to descend into mickey mouse shtick a little too often.

As is often the case with Shaiman's work, The Out-of-Towners is professionally finished but ultimately forgettable film music. It's great fun to listen to while you're listening to it, but as soon as the CD is over you have trouble recalling any of it. I do think that Shaiman is a talented and generally under-appreciated composer who, when presented with the right material, can create musical magic. Unfortunately, The Out-of-Towners is by no means "the right material", and although Shaiman claims to have had a ball on this project, it does not come close to being near the top of his list of career achievements.

Track Listing: Running Time: 37 minutes 14 seconds

Milan 74321-67193-2 (1999)

Music composed by Marc Shaiman. Conducted by Pete Anthony. Orchestrations by Jeff Atmajian, Brad Dechter, Patrick Russ, Frank Bennett and Pete Anthony. Recorded and mixed by Dennis Sands. Edited by Dan DiPrima. Mastered by Joe Gastwirt. Album produced by Marc Shaiman.

Cinemusic Online: Review by Helen San (****)
Filmtracks
Movie Wave
Score!: Review by Andreas Lindahl (****)
Scorelogue


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