Genre
: Soundtrack, Rock, Pop
David Duchovny and Minnie Driver star in Bonnie Hunt's romantic comedy Return to Me, named after the Dean Martin standard that leads off this soundtrack. According to the liner notes, Hunt assembled these songs to reflect nostalgia for her own childhood, and, aside from the incongruous addition of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' "I Second That Emotion," it's all orchestrated pop that recalls a far-removed age before rock 'n' roll. Several tunes were composed and orchestrated by the movie's music director, Nicholas Pike, who, with the help of singer Joey Gian, nearly re-creates the past. However, it's the campy good time of the Jackie Gleason Orchestra and Dean Martin himself ("Good Mornin', Life" serves as a parody of Up with People, while "Buona Sera" is prime Martin) that best reflects this ersatz-glitzy era. --Rob O'Connor