Scoop [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

In the movie business, where hiring the composer is generally one of the last actions in the post-production process, it is common practice for directors to shoot and cut their films to "temp" scores consisting of music they know, often well-known music, later to be replaced by a newly written score. Some directors even fall in love with their temp scores and use them instead, a famous example being with . But , always working on modest budgets for his urban comedies and dramas, has tended to dispense with the idea of a composer from the outset, providing music for his films by rooting around in his own record collection and often coming up with 1920s recordings. For his 2006 film, , has turned largely to the realm, setting his story to old warhorses like 's , and , which is the music that takes up this album, along with a few numbers by and . One reason directors don't do this sort of thing more often is that audiences usually already have associations in their minds with existing music, particularly, say, music for a famous . Of course, directors sometimes use those very associations as part of the experience of watching the film, and may be doing that here. Or maybe he's just saving money. In any case, the album to as a listening experience separate from the film comes off as simply some miscellaneous music with a tossed in here and there. ~ William Ruhlmann