Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #895
Written 6/20/99, Revised 2/26/08
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Buy it... if John Debney's consistent and effective method of
scoring physical comedies with robust, enthusiastic orchestral energy
never gets old for you.
Avoid it... if the predictability of these scores, despite their
thematic cohesiveness and remarkable vibrance in parts, have suffered
diminished appeal in the years since Liar Liar was a refreshing
new sound.
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| Howard |
Liar Liar: (John Debney/James Newton Howard) The
concept of Liar Liar seems like it would make a decent, hearty
comedy with enough dramatic weight to be taken seriously. When you throw
actor Jim Carrey into the lead, however, the script of the film becomes
completely irrelevant, because the immense physical talents of Carrey
distract from whatever else the movie offers. He plays a sleazy lawyer
who is jinxed by his heartbroken five-year-old son into telling the
truth for one day, causing severe but hilarious problems at the
workplace. The story, supporting actors, and pretty much every other
aspect of the production plays second fiddle to Carrey, who could very
well have entertained the audience just as well in a stand-up solo
environment. But the film tried to reach for the "wholesome" department,
and in so doing dug its own grave. In fact, the best part of the film is
a series of outtakes presented at the end that have more laughs packed
into a couple of minutes than the entire film put together. Director Tom
Shadyac produced several popular physical comedy films in the 1990's,
only some with Carrey; his two earliest efforts, Ace Ventura: Pet
Detective and The Nutty Professor both fared well despite
rotating between composers to accentuate the laughs with generic,
punch-line orchestral scores. For Liar Liar, Shadyac turned to
James Newton Howard, who would only actually write the thematic base for
the film before stepping aside from the project. The reason for his
departure remains unknown, but he strongly recommended to Shadyac that
John Debney take over the assignment, citing the rising composer as "the
best-kept secret in Hollywood." So pleased was Shadyac with Debney's
accommodating personality and the quality of the music that a
collaboration between the two would extend to Dragonfly, Bruce
Almighty, and Evan Almighty in the following ten years.
Debney's knack for matching the energy of physical comedy on screen with
equally vibrant and robust orchestral music is a strong match for films
such as Liar Liar, and several subsequent projects in the genre
prove this point.
If there is a down side to Debney's effective
compositions for these kinds of dumb comedies, it exists in the
consistency with which he writes each one. After half a dozen of them,
the style begins to expose its limitations. While
Liar Liar
seemed like a refreshing score at the time, the plethora of similar
Debney efforts in subsequent years have diminished its appeal. Debney
seemed to have a trademark on the adult, live-action version of Carl
Stalling's old Warner cartoon style of music at the time, and these
scores were surprisingly conventional in their orchestral constructs.
Unlike the concurrent score for
Flubber in 1997, in which Danny
Elfman took that cartoonish style and launched it into a refreshing
(though obnoxious) new direction, Debney's music for these kinds of
assignments begins to become too predictable when he fails to include
unique instrumentation into the ensemble. The title theme by Howard for
Liar Liar is extremely malleable, used by Debney in nearly every
cue within the score for unquestionable continuity. Bombastic marches
and tender woodwind solos both make use of this theme, leaving auxiliary
material somewhat underdeveloped. The most robust performances of the
theme feature an adventurous spirit related to the Western genre in its
snappy rhythms; both "Pulled Over" and "Airport Chase" present these
enjoyable variants. The "Outtake Montage" cue revisits this energy in a
scherzo that matches the playful nature of the scene. The softer moments
of thematic development on piano and woodwind are somewhat dull in their
predictability, but their presence assists the album in achieving some
balance. That album runs for only 29 minutes, which is a welcome (if not
surprising) move by MCA Records. For collectors of Howard's works,
there's very little of the composer's own voice to be heard in
Liar
Liar; the execution of his ideas by Debney place them firmly in the
domain of the latter composer's style of comedy romp. Despite having no
distinct weaknesses,
Liar Liar is a difficult score to recommend
because its sound has become so standardized in the following years that
it risks falling into the category of dull retreads despite moving with
enthusiasm and energy. Expect more of the same.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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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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