Empire Records

Rating:
Summary: whats with today, today?
Review: quoted daily. every decently interesting person i know at least likes and has seen this movie. if you havent, your odds aren't good (sorry).


Rating:
Summary: Lively and exciting
Review: This is a really fun movie... not to be taken seriously, but fun nonetheless. Empire Records is the story of a struggling independent music store on the day Rex Manning comes to town. The main characters are:

Joel, the manager of the store, who acts as babysitter for the kids who work for him;

Rex Manning, the sleazy rock star with really bad hair;

Jane, his manager, who later hooks up with Joel;

Lucas, the sarcastic, sardonic kid who takes 9 grand from Empire Records and blows it all in Atlantic City, so that the store won't be sold out to the Movie Town franchise;

AJ, the sensitive, artistic guy who's in love with Corey and who spends half the day trying to get up the courage to tell her how he feels;

Gina, the girl who wears extremely short skirts and fools around with Rex Manning;

Mark, the slightly spastic rock star wannabe who dreams of starting his own band and who eats "special" brownies as though they're candy;

Debra, the suicidal employee who shaves off her head in the beginning of the movie and makes button pins for her coworkers that reflect their messed-up state in life;

Berko, the slightly crazy guy who we don't find out much about;

Corey, the Harvard-bound smart girl who has a crush on Rex Manning;

and Warren Beatty, the underage shoplifter who Linus catches in the act (ironically enough), and who is dumb enough to come back to the store in possession of a gun.

All these characters, not to mention quite a few more, make for a delightful movie, though it has its imperfections and left me asking the following question: if the store is in such dire straits, then why doesn't Joe just fire Lucas (after all, he did steal $9000). By the end of the movie, not many of the characters have solved their problems sufficiently enough for the viewer. It also doesn't make much sense that the music store is saved simply by a party. In addition, the music to this music is fantastic, though the actual soundtrack is rather lacking.

Rating:
Summary: On-The-Job "Therapy" for Teen-Misfits
Review: This film was a major disappointment. Knowing that 2 of the co-stars later appeared in "That Thing You Do" (one of my favorite Rock & Roll oriented films), gave me false hope that "Empire Records" would be another Rock & Roll music-driven joy-ride.

The plot is virtually non-existant, appearing to be made-up-as-they go. The opener has one of the half-dozen co-workers of a CD/record store run off to Atlantic City, determined to quadruple the embessled daily takings, so the store won't be sold to a ruthless chain. Immediately the story switches to showing how each of the late-teen-ish store workers are "messed up".

A young shoplifter who is prosecuted, then returns with a gun, is forgiven and offered a job (apparently all in the same day). A side-plot shows a has-been Pop-Idol (with far too much pancake make-up) as a shameless womanizing scuzzball. All ends well, when a Party-A-Thon saves the store. Lots of teen-stuff, with references to inappropriate and dangerous behavior, glamourized and made appealing.

This film is a disservice to films of this genre. Teens are not better for watching this poor example of how-to-be-a-success. Harldy any POOR decison has been missed by this teen-angst nighmare. AVOID this film. The small consolation is the VERY GOOD Soft & Hard Rock Sound Track. No other redeeming value. Sorry.**