by Johnny Loftus

Bowling for Soup's 2004 single "1985" was a big-time novelty. But unlike most novelties (trucker hats, pet rocks, glam metal), BFS have always supported their smart-alecky nature with solid hooks and plenty of good-natured humor. Seriously, you can't stay mad at these guys. They prove it again with Bowling for Soup Goes to the Movies, which kicks off with the theme to Nickelodeon's Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius and rolls happily along through songs that originally and un-ironically appeared in Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen movies ("Greatest Day"), Lindsay Lohan vehicles (their cover of "...Baby One More Time" is from Freaky Friday), and as the theme to The Drew Carey Show (BFS' trashy take on the Vogues' classic "Five O'Clock World.") Once songs have been, er, "Soup-ified," they all sound pretty much the same -- cranking guitars, lots of harmonies, and Jaret Reddick's thin but satisfying whine out front. But you have to give it up for a band that will admit this very observation in its liner notes. Those notes are almost the best thing about Goes to the Movies, since Reddick is so engagingly honest. He describes how each song came about and then how it played out; usually he's about to blow off the meeting when he decides to go at the last minute and writes a great song out of the experience. A lot of these Reddick didn't write, though. Besides Britney and the Vogues, Bowling for Soup tackle "I Melt With You," Matthew Sweet's "Sick of Myself," "Spanish Harlem" (for an unaired Luis Guzman TV pilot!), and the theme to Gilligan's Island. Goes to the Movies also includes "(Ready or Not) Omaha Nebraska," the band's theme song to ESPN's coverage of the College World Series, as well as the unreleased track "Sometimes." Because Bowling for Soup are such nice guys, they're forgiven for rhyming "thumbs" with "dumb" on that last one.