Erin Brockovich

I am probably one of the few people who found it hard to really appreciate Newman's score for American Beauty, both in the film and on CD. It was in my opinion too distracting in the film and too uninteresting as a standalone listening experience. This is, I think, the problem with many of Newman's scores in the same style, such as his music for Mad City and Erin Brockovich. What these scores have in common are the unique and inventive orchestrations, including obscure instruments such as Bloogle and Whacker Tubes - the stranger name the better. It is of course interesting when composers try new things and ideas, and the problem with these scores aren't really the orchestrations, but rather the fact that they are so incredibly dull and boring - at least when it comes to Mad City and Erin Brockovich. In Newman's score for the latter film, there is rarely anything interesting going on at all, and the lack of themes make the music almost totally uninteresting.

Newman's score is mostly built around the piano, percussion, synths and these other strange instruments. Together they create a very urban, groovy sound. But it totally fails to impress me. When listening to this music I am almost willing to agree with the people who say that film music just cannot stand on its own. Now, the score has its moments of interesting music, but is overall far too repetetive and tedious. Listen to the first cue and you have basically already heard the entire score. Instead, the most memorable and best tracks on the soundtrack album are the two songs, "Redemption Day" and "Everyday is a Winding Road", by Sheryl Crow.

I really miss the orchestral Thomas Newman. I'm not saying that he is gone, but it would be nice to get another scores in the same veins as the composers' wonderful score for The Shawshank Redemption and the beautiful music for Meet Joe Black and The Horse Whisperer. These scores may not offer anything groundbreaking, but they are at least good and memorable...