Search - Various Artists - Soundtracks :: Slums Of Beverly Hills (1998 Film)

Tamara Davis's Slums of Beverly Hills steers clear of the clichéd '70s music that could have made its soundtrack indistinguishable from a host of similar period pieces. The spotlight here is on the original music composed by Rolfe Kent and conducted by William Stromberg. It's a heady, minimalist lounge-nouveau soundscape, liberally spattered with mandolin and vibraphone that comes up just inches short of seedy, much like the film itself. An uneven collection of old faves rounds out the package. Where else could you find Parliament sharing the bill with Perry Como, or Three Dog Night's laidback pop next to the saccharine honky-tonk of Freddy Fender? The unsurpassable Motown groove of Ike and Tina completes this odd assortment of classics. Musical highlights from the film include Marisa Tomei and Natasha Lyonne extolling the virtues of autoerotism to the tune of "Give Up the Funk" and would-be Sinatra David Krumholtz mutilating "Luck Be a Lady" wearing only his tattered BVDs--what a bod on that guy! Hollywood, beware--a new star is born. --Melissa Axelrod and Terry Zwigoff