Brian Tyler - Greatest Game Ever Played (Score) / O.S.T. (CD)

All Music Guide

Actor/director Bill Paxton's weepy golf drama concerning the underdogled 1913 U.S. Open is treated with ample sentimentality and sepiatone goodness by composer Brian Tyler (Bubba HoTep, Darkness Falls, Constantine). With echoes of similarly themed sports dramas like The Natural, Miracle, and Field of Dreams, Tyler's score is rousing, lush, and romantic to a fault, with a sweeping main theme that conjures up images of trophies being thrust into the air with credits rolling over them. Tyler, to his credit, doesn't fully succumb to the "soaring strings" complex, as his tendency to insert liberal amounts of piano and acoustic guitar give the soundtrack a much needed identity. Opera star Dawn Upshaw and an almost sneering Joe Jackson he also appears briefly in the film perform a couple of standards, "The Band Played On" and "Hello Hello Who's You're Lady Friend," respectively, while Jackson contributes his own "Angel" for Upshaw to sing.

- James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide