Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,464
Written 11/1/07
Invert Colors
Buy it... if you can forgive the temp-track following tendencies of
John Debney and enjoy his massive religious overtones without analyzing
their origins.
Avoid it... if Debney's more procedural scores, favoring
predictability over creativity, don't provide enough entertainment on
their own merits.
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| Debney |
Evan Almighty: (John Debney) Despite its immense
budget for a comedy film, Bruce Almighty managed to return even
more immense money in 2003. The stakes were higher for the 2007 sequel,
Evan Almighty, with an even higher budget despite the absence of
Jim Carrey in the title role. Expanded from a bit role in the first film
into the lead, Steve Carell is approached by God (Morgan Freeman, once
again) and told to become the biblical character of Noah and build a
real-life Ark by a certain date. The gags in the film accompany
supporting characters' reactions to Carell's antics and, without
Carrey's obnoxious personality in the mix, Evan Almighty managed
to take itself just a bit too seriously to be effective. The film only
grossed $100 million, a substantial loss for Universal, and critics
easily exposed many of the film's faults. Director Tom Shadyac and
screenwriter Steve Oedekerk returned for the sequel, and their inability
to decide whether Evan Almighty should receive serious
consideration as a drama (to some extent) hurt the film in several ways,
from the cheesy special effects to the conflicted underscore by John
Debney. The composer's score for Bruce Almighty was a typical
lightweight affair for Debney, overshadowed by the songs licensed for
use in the film. It was the usual kind of fluff that Debney has provided
for dumb comedies since the late 1990's, neither demanding nor
trailblazing. For Evan Almighty, Debney was obviously caught in
the same dilemma as Shadyac and Oedekerk regarding the level of serious
intent for the film. It would turn into a temp-track re-write project
for Debney, and given the two primary sources of inspiration to which he
would make a musical nod, it's clear that the filmmakers were
deliberately attempting to use the music to provide the film with a more
straight-forward, dramatic tilt. The inevitably capable, but still
transparent job that Debney did with those requests makes Evan
Almighty, at the very least, a more interesting listening experience
than its predecessor. But like Debney's score for Dreamer a few
years before, if you're bothered by Debney's incorporation of the
temp-track into a new score, then Evan Almighty will likely
bother you to the same degree, if not more.
The two primary temp-track sources for Debney define
the score's two major themes. First, for the theme of the Ark, a strong
dose of Alan Silvestri's dramatic structures are heard, and most fans
will likely choose
The Abyss as the easiest reference point. The
theme is overly melodramatic in the expected religious sense, holding
the fort in the opening suite arrangement and the climactic "The Flood"
cue. Even more transparent is the adaptation of James Horner's
Apollo
13 for "God's Theme." Debney doesn't make much of an attempt to hide
this source given a repetition of one of Horner's motifs from
Apollo
13 over and over again, as well as the use of female vocals to
convey a sense of other-worldliness. While these gospel vocals are a far
cry from Annie Lennox's, the connections are unmistakable. Debney does
provide some unique material for
Evan Almighty, though none of it
is particularly memorable. A piano-led theme for Evan himself is an
elegant nightclub style of easy-listening piece that sounds a bit out of
place. This theme would share some phrases with "God's Theme," once
again reminding of Horner's work. A secondary theme that really doesn't
seem to have a home is actually the score's highlight despite its
extremely brief appearances. Perhaps the greatest irony of
Evan
Almighty is that this theme crosses the paths of both Silvestri and
Horner at once, sharing an identity with Silvestri's character theme
from
Night at the Museum and Horner's hip guitar theme from
Field of Dreams. Here, it can only be heard for a half a minute
at the start of both "Baxter's to Bed" and "God Crane Arrives." There
are parody cues sprinkled throughout
Evan Almighty, and they are
as effective as any stock material from Debney's own career. Never do
those parody elements become irritating, outside of perhaps the
faux-classical style of "Grooming Montage." If you can forgive the
temp-track similarities, then the massive religious music, extending
through "Acts of Random Kindness" at the end, are a fun listening
experience. In fact, there's nothing offensive about a single minute of
music in
Evan Almighty. It simply lacks the intelligence and
creativity that Debney is capable of producing and, in the end, melts
away into his lengthy career.
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Bias Check:
For John Debney reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.33
(in 56 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.1
(in 49,960 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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