AMG Review of Sleeping with the Enemy

Jason Ankeny
All Music Guide

A strangely upbeat score ill-suited to the stalker thriller it accompanies, Sleeping with the Enemy functions far better outside of a cinematic context -- taken purely as a listening experience, one can fully appreciate the lyricism and beauty of Jerry Goldsmith's melodies. With its lithe woodwind solos, measured electronics, and feather-light strings, the main theme boasts a luminous charm perfectly attuned to headliner Julia Roberts' star wattage. While subsequent themes explore the danger and darkness intrinsic to the suspense genre, Goldsmith fails to achieve a level of dread commensurate to his best work in this vein, exhibiting little of the creativity present in the score's sunnier moments. Columbia's official soundtrack release also includes Van Morrison's blue-eyed soul classic "Brown Eyed Girl," further cementing the notion that Sleeping with the Enemy is more a tribute to Roberts' allure than a full-fledged motion picture score.