Ever since Singles proved that a movie soundtrack can turn a tidy profit independent of the movie itself, the marketing schemes for soundtracks have grown bigger and more absurd. It's getting to the point where it's possible for a movie to have three separate soundtracks in stores-- the actual orchestral score, a compilation of rock tracks vaguely featured in the movie, and an album of music "inspired by" the movie, which is basically all the tracks recorded for the soundtrack that didn't make the final cut. I wouldn't even be surprised if some soundtracks have made a larger profit than the movies they advertise-- think teen-demographic pabulum like Empire Records, Hackers or The Crow: City of Angels.

With regards to this trend, I think it's entirely justifiable to review a movie soundtrack on its own merits, without having seen the movie. This is a big cop-out on my part because I haven't actually seen Good Will Hunting yet, and I don't particularly plan on seeing it, either. What interested me in the soundtrack was the presence of Elliott Smith; I think it's an incredible, twisted stroke of luck that Smith was nominated for an Oscar for his song "Miss Misery," and of course it was a token nomination since he had no chance of winning, but still, I had to check out the soundtrack to see what was up.

As it turns out, Smith only contributes to six of the fifteen tracks on the Good Will Hunting soundtrack, and of those, three are taken from Smith's excellent solo album Either/Or, and one is an orchestral reprise of one of those songs. The other two tracks, "No Name #3" and "Miss Misery," are both fine examples of Smith's downcast yet wonderfully tuneful songwriting, but it makes me wish that Smith would release an EP or something with those tracks on it. Hopefully, his upcoming album will include them.

The rest of the soundtrack is a hodgepodge of Capitol bands, some fairly well-known (Luscious Jackson, Dandy Warhols), some less so. Nothing really stands out; besides the as- yet- unreleased- elsewhere Elliott Smith tracks and two half-hearted pieces by Danny Elfman, there's nothing here you can't find on the individual artists' albums.

The oddest moment of the soundtrack is an unimpressive version of "Somebody's Baby," the existence of which breaks an important (and typically unspoken) rule of movie soundtracks: Don't use a song that's already been used in another movie to better effect. In this case, the original version of "Somebody's Baby" by Jackson Browne was used in the scene in Fast Times At Ridgemont High where Stacy Hamilton loses her virginity. If you've seen that movie, chances are you remember the song. Of course, since I haven't seen Good Will Hunting, I don't know how this song is used in the movie, so maybe I do need to go see the movie before writing this review. Oops! Too late.

-Nick Mirov