Ron Howard's good-hearted media satire
EDTV was unfairly labelled as a Truman Show rip-off by many critics and audiences, since it was a sweet, funny comedy that wasn't nearly as cynical as the average Hollywood blockbuster. Unfortunately, the same thing can't be said for the soundtrack, which feels as if it has been assembled with only sales in mind. That's not to say that it doesn't really work, because it is strangely listenable, but it never quite adds up to the sum of its parts. Nevertheless, many of the individual parts work. True, none of the new songs really jell -- the hyped
Bon Jovi reunion cut "Real Life" is a by-the-book power-ballad, UB40's attempt to do to "Holly Holy" what they did for "Red Red Wine" sounds forced and Meredith Brooks' "Careful What You Wish For" never makes much of an impression -- but throwing Ozomatli, Peter Wolf and
Cornershop into the mix with soul chestnuts from
Al Green,
Otis Redding,
Joe Tex and
James Brown works well, and results in a good listen, as far as soundtracks go. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine