Stevie Wonder
The Woman In Red

THE REVIEW

MUSIC WORTHY OF AN OSCAR
"I won the Oscar for the music of a film I haven't even seen..." (hahaha)

1984: The theaters fill up for a rather bland comedy that fully represents the emptiness and stupidity of part of 80s cinema: "The Woman in Red."

Three things save (but only partially) this film: the charm of Gene Wilder, the breathtaking allure of Kelly Le Brock, and finally the famous soundtrack by Stevie Wonder. A few songs (only eight), a couple sung also with Dionne Warwick. Few tracks remain in this album of the good soul sound of Stevie from the past years. A swerve towards commercial pop. Sales are certainly not lacking, and the radios play almost only his song. The leading track is obviously the single "I Just Called To Say I Love You", who doesn't know it?!
It has the merit of extreme catchiness and a refrain (like a love message on an answering machine) that emerges, sweet and harmonious, among Stevie's keyboard and synthesizer sounds, just listen to it once and you won't forget it! Here we find it in a six-minute version, different from the one included in various Greatest Hits, longer, with a piece of the refrain at the end sung by a robotic voice. Still worth remembering: "The Woman In Red", "It's You" and "Love Light In Flight".
The rest? Nothing special, truly forgettable!

Stevie thus receives the statuette, with a dreamy air, head incessantly moving as if following a music that continuously hums in his mind, an unmistakable wide grin of 32 teeth on his face. There's something good, it can be found in the cute songs mentioned above, yet it remains a rather empty album, with few significant pieces. As a soundtrack for a comedy with few pretensions, it's PERFECT for 5 stars!! Evaluated as an album, it's poor and absolutely insufficient!

And here the two stars are indeed due to this last consideration...