Editorials > Today's Filmwad Rant: Stop Ruining Comedies With "Cool" Soundtracks

Being a Michael Cera fan, I was eagerly awaiting the trailer for "Juno." I load it up, and it starts out fine. There's some goofy xylophone music playing over a scene where a teenage girl finds out she's pregnant. It gets a smile and an almost laugh from me. Then the trailer takes a nosedive – a Moldy Peaches song, followed by the David Bowie-penned "All The Young Dudes," saunter in over the cut, absolutely draining all humor from the trailer.

Now I'm not some uncool S.O.B. who thinks the said music sucks.  I like the Moldy Peaches. I love "All The Young Dudes" (the song… as well as the dudes). I just have the common sense to realize that just because I like a song doesn't mean it fits. And when it comes to comedies, the soundtrack is a VERY fickle thing. One change could make a scene go from 10 laughs to 2.

Staying true to the jokes with a soundtrack used to be sacred in comedy. That all changed with 2004's "Garden State." The Zach Braff film is, when deconstructed for its contents, a mish-mash of odd-ball comedy and out-of-nowhere dramatic scenes and a fine effort for a first film. But the reason why the flick became a buzzworthy must-see is because of its best-selling soundtrack. Braff himself hand picked songs from bands like The Shins, Iron and Wine, Nick Drake and Frou Frou… bands that have no business being in a comedy soundtrack.

Well, the formula worked as Braff's career as an actor AND as a taste-maker was launched (though he squandered both with his next film, "The Last Kiss" ) and when last year's "Little Miss Sunshine" came out, you knew Braff had started a trend. The Oscar-winning (yick) film from 2006 was utterly drenched in cooler-than-thou emotional indie tunes from the band DeVotchKa, with a Rick James song thrown in for the sake of comedy. How nice.

The result, to me at least, was a film that had a lot of funny moments that were drowned out by the wrong tracks. "Little Miss Sunshine" should've been a pretty funny "National Lampoon's Family Vacation" rip off, but instead, thanks to its soundtrack, it became an Oscar winning drama. Yawn.

Now "Juno" seems, at least from the trailer, to be going down the same road. Except this time a "oooh so cool" soundtrack is invading what seems to be an actually original, very funny comedy (as opposed to a knock-off written by Matthew Broderick's assistant).

Just because you like something doesn't mean it belongs in your comedy… Eddie Murphy learned that in "Pluto Nash," when his love of science fiction led to zero laughs. Same goes for your "cool kid" soundtracks, directors. Wise up.