Exit to Eden

For a composer of Patrick Doyle's pedigree, it's almost impossible to imagine that he'd agree to write the score for a comedy about sexual, um, deviance, however it appears that Doyle was keen to work with director Garry Marshall (he of Pretty Woman fame). Not being an expert on the genre, it is not entirely easy to predict what to expect, but it actually boils down to being a fairly typical Doyle effort for much of its running time. The opening cue, Nina introduces what passes for the main theme, well more of a minimalist motif really. It has the prototypical pulsing strings, bouncing percussion and is used several times during the score with not a great deal of variation. Shoot Out is a brief, minor action cue and Follow that Cab reprises material from Nina, all of which gives the impression that the score is going to be nothing like expected. Of course this is allegedly a comedy and so the mood eventually brightens with the exceptionally bouyant The Arrival which is a totally over the top heraldic fanfare.

Each track functions as a pretty much self contained piece, so however it starts is how it continues to its conclusion, so cues such as the Mancini-ish Sheila in the Mirror don't suddenly move from swinging jazz into something different. Jazz takes centre stage on several other occasions; the turn of the century ragtime moves of Streetscene, the rather cheesy lounge music of Careless Love and the briefly entertaining Dixie Time. These moments are interspersed with quiet reflective string cues as well as the odd appearance of the main theme.

Not an unenjoyable score by any means, but it comes across as repetitive and over diverse at the same time. The light hearted sections provide several different changes of pace, but the quieter cues and renditions of the main theme tend to end up sounding the same too often. The different styles contained on the album will likely appeal to everyone sometimes, but appeal to no-one completely. Worth hearing for the entertainingly upbeat sections, but with limited longevity.