10 Movies With Unexpectedly Brilliant Soundtracks

Though he was officially done with the High School Musical franchise, Zac Efron wasn't exactly redefining his image with 17 Again, so, no one expected the soundtrack to be a radical departure from HSM either. In that regard, it shocked.

 Instead of the teen pop that defined HSM, 17 Again goes for indie rock, but not the kind of Kerrang!-fuelled skatepark indie rock you'd expect to hear in a teen movie. Instead, 17 Again offers a surprisingly diverse and sophisticated tour of the labyrinth that is indie music.

There's the noise pop of the Helio Sequence's "Can't Say No", all the way to the thrashing garage rock of the Duke Spirit's "You Really Wake Up the Love in Me". There's none of that melodramatic stuff that panders to pseudo-existential fourteen year olds. In fact, the album's most emotional moment, Cat Power's "The Greatest", is one of the most refined songs here. 

Under all the goofy humour, the main theme of 17 Again is disappointment. Matthew Perry's character feels let down by the choices he's made and the life he has as a result of them. But, being a teen movie, it can't afford to go too existential. But "The Greatest" is as profound a tale of disappointment as there can be. 

Overall, this soundtrack amazingly mature and diverse.