‘Your Place or Mine’ Soundtrack: Why Aline Brosh McKenna Chose The Cars to Serenade Her Rom-Com

If you were jamming out to the Your Place or Mine soundtrack while watching the new Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher movie on Netflix, you are not alone. For fans of classic rock—and most especially, for fans of the ’80s rock band, The Cars—this movie soundtrack was truly a gift.

In fact, the Your Place or Mine soundtrack featured no less than 11 songs by The Cars. I’ve done zero research to back this statement up, but I can only assume that is a new world record for the number of songs by The Cars on one movie soundtrack. There is, thankfully, a story reason behind that decision: The Cars are the favorite band of Kutcher’s character— a rich playboy bachelor named Peter—and it’s the only band he listens to while driving around in his shiny car.

Making The Cars Peter’s favorite band was a very deliberate choice by Your Place or Mine writer/director Aline Brosh McKenna. In an interview for the movie’s press notes, McKenna said, “Something that I’ve noticed about men of a certain age is they tend to have a band that they love that’s like their band, it’s their identity. I feel like The Cars represent a certain type of gentleman who’s very emotional, but those emotions are kind of hidden in these other things. The Cars have written some really heart- breaking songs and some really wonderfully emotional songs, but they also kick ass and they have a lot of propulsion. And it felt like that tension within Peter of being a guy with a lot of love to give, but also not knowing exactly how to express that, was well represented by The Cars.”

McKenna also added, “And then the other thing is they’re just bops. It’s like song after song after song that’s like,’Oh my god, that’s a killer.'”

You can check out the full list of Cars songs, as well as a few non-Cars songs, in the full track list of the Your Place or Mine soundtrack below.

Your Place or Mine soundtrack full song list:

• “The Sweet Escape” by Gwen Stefani ft. Akon
• “Let’s Go” by The Cars
• “Bye Bye Love” by The Cars
• “Good Times Roll” by The Cars
• “Magic” by The Cars
• “Safe Travels” by The Cars
• “Shake It Up” by The Cars
• “Just What I Needed” by The Cars
• “Right Time” by The Minitel
• “Liz” by Remi Wolf
• “Sick!” by Anna Shoemaker
• “Feel The Way I Want” by Caroline Rose
• “Nothing Else I Could Do” by Ella Jane
• “Remind Me” by Emily King
• “Heartbeat City” by The Cars
• “Back Pocket” by Vulfpeck
• “Debbie” by Your Smith
• “Drive” by The Cars
• “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight” by The Cars
• “Animal Spirits” by Vulfpeck
• “You Might Think” by The Cars
• “Embers” by Tiny Habits

Unfortunately, the Your Place or Mine soundtrack is not on Spotify or Apple Music, but you can stream the Your Place or Mine score on Spotify.