For Love of The Movies

I can recall back in the very early 90’s, my sister going on about ‘this movie’ that she thought was one of the best films she’d ever seen. She would walk around the house saying things like, ‘Lucaaaaas!’, quoting various scenes and doing a funny dance from the movie. I dismissed it as a totally wavy childhood.

Fast forward 6 years and I end up marrying a woman who has the very same feelings about the very same film. And so does her sister. Intrigued at what could possibly be having this contagious effect, I decided to buy it for her birthday (so I could watch it!). Empire Records is a comedy that I have now found out has a massive cult following. It has an incredible cast of actors and actresses, who back in ‘95 were up and coming but today they have all made names for themselves and continue to make A list movies and popular TV shows.

It’s the story of a mixed group of teens (some slackers, some with dreams, all a little nutty) who ‘work’ at a music store called Empire Records. It’s a very employee friendly joint; wear what you want, rock up a little late and play any music as loud as you want. It’s an awesome place.

The part owner of the business, Joe (Anthony LaPaglia), has been struggling along to make ends meet, whilst the larger share-holder has dreams of turning it into a money-making franchise called Music Town. One fateful night, the weirdest of the employees, Lucas, is asked to close up shop but runs to Atlantic City and blows the companies dwindling takings on the gambling tables. It turns out that Joe has been trying to save up as much cash as possible to buy the place from his partner, and ‘that’ was a large chunk of it! He now has to come up with a plan to make back the money and save Empire Records before the end of the film. It turns out to be a very difficult task because whilst trying to do that, he also has to deal with the problems his 7 employees are going through.

It’s the main plot of the story, which gives it a beginning and an end. But, it’s the not the entertaining part of the film. What makes this film work are the sub-stories, of which each employee has their own. There’s a love story, there’s a coming of age story, an employee desperate for attention, a slutty employee finds self respect, a mislead youth needing a group of friends, a has-been rock star realises his career is over and a music agent realises she needs a new path in life.

It has a killer sound-track (which my sister, sister-in-law and wife all own) and highlights the talents of Gin Blossoms, Jimi Hendrix, The Cranberries, Better than Ezra, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Edwyn Collins, Lustre and Coyote Shivers. It’s one of those movies that becomes more enjoyable every time you watch it. And, you really can watch it over and over again.

For me it was an awakening to the fact that there are movies out there that this movie enthusiast needs to give a chance. Director Allan Moyle has made very few mainstream Hollywood films, but first had success with the Christian Slater vehicle, Pump Up The Volume in 1990. It lead the way for Empire Records. If there is one thing he knows how to do, it’s film teens, acting like teens in a very realistic teen environment. It’s sad that he never followed this path as I believe based purely on the cult followers of those two films he could have made many more and found success.

The stellar cast includes, previously mentioned Anthony LaPaglia (Phoenix, Summer of Sam), Debi Mazar (Entourage), Liv Tyler (Armageddon), Renee Zellweger (Jerry Maguire), Rory Cochrane (CSI:Miami), Johnny Whitworth (CSI:Miami), Robin Tunney (The Craft), Ethan Embry (White Squall, Can’t Hardly Wait, Eagle Eye) and Maxwell Caulfield (Grease 2). Max gets to play a really funny character called Rex Manning.

This film gets 8/10 for utter enjoyability, awesome music, a phenomenal cast and great story. Say No More, Mon Amour… for love of the movie.