• Composed by Hans Zimmer and Heitor Pereira
• Back Lot Music download / 2009 / 16:52

One genre in which Hans Zimmer has written consistently impressive scores is the comedy.  While many film composers – even A-grade ones – struggle to find the right tone, Zimmer has written excellent music for films like As Good as it Gets, Spanglish and The Holiday.  Of course, it’s all very “light” music, but those scores all work well in their films and make for engaging CDs if you just want to switch your brain off, sit back and relax.  It continues with It’s Complicated, for the new film from Nancy Meyers – a film often described as “a romantic comedy about old people” (though I don’t think I would personally call Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin “old”).

The soundtrack was scheduled for release by Varese Sarabande but subsequently cancelled when it turned out that so little original score was needed for the film – so instead it has been released as a download only by Universal’s Back Lot Music label.  In fact there’s just a shade over a quarter of an hour’s music here.  (Of course, that was still far too much for Zimmer to be able to write it by himself, so Heitor Pereira gets a co-credit and Henry Jackman is credited with additional music.)  Pereira has played guitar on many Zimmer scores and so it’s no surprise to find that instrument featuring heavily here, along with piano and strings.  The music is similar to The Holiday (a film from the same director) – a pleasant, tuneful series of pieces which are undemanding, attractive and pretty relaxing.  In fact, it’s uncomplicated – but quite delightful.  And you can download it for only $6.  ***

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