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CATCH AND RELEASE
Pleasant, if slight, guitar music
A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

Music composed by
BT
TOMMY STINSON

Rating
* * 1/2



Performed by
UNNAMED ENSEMBLE

Additional music
MICHAEL DIMATTIA
BRIAN TRIFON

Engineered by
BT
Music Editor
JENNIFER NASH
Produced by
BT
TOMMY STINSON

Album running time
34:10

Released by
VARESE SARABANDE
Catalog number
VSD-6793

Album cover copyright (c) 2007 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.; review copyright (c) 2007 James Southall

A chick flick aimed at the same demographic which enjoys shows like Dawson's Creek and The OC, Catch and Release is about a young lady (played by Jennifer Garner) trying to rebuild her life following the death of her boyfriend.  It's hard not to please that target audience, but the film seemed to manage it, with the film attracting lousy reviews and being unspectacular at the box office.  Still, I'm sure plenty of hows-your-father was going on in the back rows of cinemas everywhere as girls swooned away and boys watched through gritted teeth, thankful that next time would be their turn to pick.  (Sexual stereotypes are very much alive and well here at Movie Wave.)

This slight film only needed a slight score, and that's what it got, though bizarrely it not only took two main composers (BT and Tommy Stinson) but two additional composers (Michael DiMattia and Brian Trifon) to write it.  It's gentle music, performed on guitar and synths, pushing all the buttons you might expect, and steering well clear of any others.  It's inoffensive stuff, sometimes elevated slightly higher than that by some lovely melodies, but it is nothing that hasn't been heard before (mostly coming off as being the instrumental equivalent of the kind of songs which are so ubiquitous in those tv shows I mentioned earlier).

I'm sure that the target audience for this album isn't hardcore film score fanatics, but rather the same as the target audience for the film, and I can easily imagine that teenage girls would love this album.  Unfortunately, most of them will almost certainly buy the "soundtrack" album instead, featuring various inoffensive pop songs - perhaps leaving this album without much of an audience at all.  It's mostly lovely music, but completely insubstantial; the album could easily pass by without you really noticing.  However, it achieves its purpose well enough, and is clearly an approach entirely justified by the film.  And I have to give it higher marks just because BT doesn't just go by his initials, he has his own logo, which I think is extremely sweet.

Tracks

  1. Bathroom Intro (:19)
  2. Mr Yummy (1:15)
  3. Grady's House (2:43)
  4. Lawyer's Office (:34)
  5. Maureen's Messages (1:03)
  6. Fritz and Gray Walk the Creek (1:56)
  7. Ski Skates Mellow (:33)
  8. Gray Removes Ring (1:13)
  9. Gray Overhears Maureen (:59)
  10. Candlelight Dinner (1:10)
  11. Gray's Confessions (2:30)
  12. River Opening (1:15)
  13. Gray Ties Mattie's Shoe (2:17)
  14. Gray and Fritz Cook (2:04)
  15. Massage Montage (:58)
  16. Sweet Nothings (2:03)
  17. Dennis and Persephone Date (1:31)
  18. Farmers Market (1:50)
  19. Planer Fight (:42)
  20. Fritz Leaves (1:41)
  21. Not His Kid (1:27)
  22. Maureen Apologises (2:20)
  23. Gray's Memorial Speech (1:13)
    24.