Hans Zimmer's scores for Ridley Scott have resulted in some fine works - they almost all work very well on CD at least, though in the film do little to dispel the commonly-held belief that the director's flair for the visual is matched by an equal-but-opposite lack of knowledge when it comes to music in his movies.  Zimmer has composed more scores than anyone else for Scott, and Matchstick Men is their latest collaboration.  The movie, the latest darkly comedic "heist-gone-wrong" film, inspired Zimmer to produce one of his lightest, breeziest scores.

Zimmer has more than his share of critics - sometimes including even me - but one thing I do think he does very well indeed - far better than most of his contemporaries - is this sort of low-key fluff.  It's strange to describe, but Matchstick Men evokes the spirit of John Williams's Catch Me If You Can without actually copying it in any way.  Everything is quite small, with the emphasis being on percussion, guitar, subtle synths and generally quite a small band, though the full orchestra does join in from time to time.

Having mentioned Catch Me If You Can, the main theme is actually Nino Rota's La Dolce Vita theme, for which Zimmer gives full credit.  It's heard in most tracks.  Zimmer goes for a "theme and variations" approach, generally writing music that is full of the same spirit as the classic Rota score even when not directly quoting from it.  The results are mostly really rather delightful, with Zimmer blessing the picture with a very graceful - dare I say European - air whereas most big-name film composers would probably have written something just too overblown.

Mixed in with Zimmer's funky score are various considerably-less-than-funky songs from the likes of Herb Alpert, Mantovani and - gasp - even George Formby.  Though Bobby Darin does make a welcome appearance as well.  Also in the packaging are some bizarre liner notes by one of the film's music supervisors, Dody Dorn, and some even-more-amusing-than-usual credits, which are rather difficult to decipher.

If light and breezy jazz floats your boat, this one is most certainly for you.

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