Whatever the myriad failings of the 1997
Bill Murray vehicle The Man Who Knew Too Little,
Christopher Young's clever, lively music isn't among them. It's the rare comedic score that's not only amusing on its own terms, but also avoids falling prey to the exaggerated slapstick approach so common to the genre.
Young's nimble touch instead evokes past masters like
Henry Mancini, employing smoky saxophones, walking basslines, and tart Hammond B-3 fills to sharply satirize the classic cool jazz sound. As always, he values subtlety over all else, favoring deadpan wit and wry twists instead of wacky arrangements and clownish melodies. Even the titles -- "Turkish Rumba Splat Silly Fat Lamb" and "Goose Neck Chili" among them -- are more amusing than any of the script's so-called punch lines. ~ Jason Ankeny