VA - Wedding Crashers - Music From And Inspired By The Film (2005)

Far from the wedding-reception favorites or laddish, caddish punk-pop and hip-hop that might be expected on the soundtrack of a movie like Wedding Crashers, the film's music actually plays like a sampler of recent trends in indie and alt-rock. Aside from Mungo Jerry's apt, cheeky "In the Summertime" and a remix of the Isley Brothers' "Shout," the soundtrack is almost painfully current: Songs like Spoon's "Sister Jack," Bloc Party's quietly epic "This Modern Love," and the Flaming Lips throwaway "Mr. Ambulance Driver" -- on which Wayne Coyne trades in his usual creaky warble for a lower, more controlled singing voice -- make the album feel like an indie rock version of Now That's What I Call Music! The Sights and the Sounds add a garage rock edge with "Circus" and "Rock 'n Roll," respectively, but the overall sensitive hipster vibe of Wedding Crashers comes from songs like the Long Winters' "Cinnamon," Rilo Kiley's "More Adventurous," and Death Cab for Cutie's "The Sound of Settling." Since one of the wedding crashers' prime macking techniques is appearing sensitive and in touch with their feelings, the soundtrack works well with the movie's portrayal of two wolves dressed in sheepish clothing, and also sounds good in its own right. ~Review by Heather Phares