Empire Records (1995)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

ridiculous rating

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

"Empire Records" is not a good movie: it's flimsy, shallow and deeply, profoundly stupid. It's like a cross between a Guess jeans commercial and an episode of "I Love the 90s", with pop culture references instead of dialog and youth culture clichés instead of characters. It's a Twinkie of a movie - a momentary sugar high with no nutritional value whatsoever.Yet, I can't help but like it. "Empire Records" is the kind of cheerfully brainless movie you watch when you're sick or you can't sleep. When you're too stressed to take anything of any substance, its high-spirited, empty-headed charm is pretty soothing, like comfort food or a pair of well-worn sweat pants. Sometimes you need to watch a stupid movie; when you feel such a need, "Empire Records" is just what the doctor ordered."Empire Records" doesn't have a story so much as a series of vignettes held together by a thin plot device: the titular record store, which is about to go out of business. The store is staffed by a motley group of Pretty White Kids With Problems who listen to inoffensively "edgy" alternative rock (Gin Blossoms, the Cranberries, etc). They spend their day in the store angsting over unrequited love, musing about movies and bands, and having the obligatory life-changing revelations. (This keeps them too busy to do any actual work; not once do you see anyone so much as clean the bathroom.) They then throw a big party that miraculously saves the store, and everybody finds love and happiness. The end.I know, it's ridiculous. "Empire Records" redefines the word "stupid". Nevertheless, every time I see this movie I can't help but smile. Maybe it takes me back to when I first saw it, at 14 - when all I wanted out of life was to hang out, listen to music, and feel like I had the elusive, all-important power of being cool.The cast - actors like Liv Tyler, Renee Zellweger, and Brendan Sexton - were avatars of cool for adolescents in the mid-90s, and the simple act of watching them made us feel cool by proxy, as if they were letting us hang out with them at the popular kids' table. At that moment in our lives, they gave us what was then the ultimate gift: the fantasy of being forever young, beautiful and hip. Most people eventually outgrow the need to be cool, but when you're a teenager, it's like oxygen. "Empire Records" brings us back to an idealized version of that time, and the nostalgia washes over us in a wave of warm fuzzies. If a movie can do that, it doesn't need to be good."Empire Records" may not be a good movie in the strictest sense, but I can watch it with a smile on my face, even if I forget about it moments after I finish watching it. It's cinematic junk food, but so what? There's nothing wrong with a donut every now and again. Just don't let it spoil your appetite for more substantial fare.

This movie has it all: - really bad acting - completely bad story - dialogues written by teenagers - worst clichés about teenager - most unbelievable behaviour of all characters - most unfunny jokes - bad camera - really bad cuttingWell, if this movie would be about a group of mentally ill patients in a hospital, that act like clerks in the most soulless music store ever seen on a screen, it would explain what is going on in this movie. But since this movie wants to be a comedy with some drama parts I can only advise to never watch it. This movie is only good in showing how bad some now well known actors were at the beginning of their career.I give two stars for the music. Not every song was good but they did not completely mess the music up, which is quite an astonishing thing compared to all the other stuff.

Empire Records is arguably the closest the 90s came to channeling one of those memorable 80s teen ensembles like the Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles or Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Occurring almost entirely within the confines of an independent music store and utilizing some then fairly unknown, but quality, young actors like Liv Tyler, Renee Zellweger, Ethan Embry, Rory Cochrane, Johnny Whitworth, and Robin Tunney with an excellent older cast Maxwell Caulfield, Anthony Lapaglia and Debi Lazar.Lapaglia stars as Joe Reaves, the manager of Empire Records, an independent music store facing hard times and on the verge of selling out to the Music Town franchise thanks to the evil owner Mitchell Beck (Ben Bode). For many of Reaves teenage staff, Empire Records is their last chance saloon. On the day after Lucas (Cochrane) in a last ditch attempt to save the store, steals all of the money from the store safe and loses it at a casino, Reaves tells his employees about the impending sale. With a past his prime 80s rock star Rex Manning (Caulfield, brilliant) visiting the shop to sign autographs the confused staff work through their various issues and try to come to terms with the coming change.The film has an excellent soundtrack and some great comedy scenes. LaPaglia is excellent and he is ably supported by the minor players. Cochrane's Lucas and Tunney's Debra being the standouts. Though Whitmore and Tyler do their best to drag proceedings down with a fairly unremarkable love story. This was a much loved film among teen audiences when it came out in 1995, and many years on, while dated, still stands up. It goes a little more deeply into some significant issues faced by the characters, without getting bogged down by them, though it does offer some too easy solutions.In the end if you take good performances, a great soundtrack, and an basic plot, you get a good movie.

I adore this movie. Right after I saw it, it was my new favorite. It was really funny and had a great script. The soundtrack ROCKED. But I think my favorite part about this movie is the characters. They all seemed so real, like people I could be friends with or go to school with. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, and good points and bad points. It seemed a lot more realistic than how most teen movies are where there is one really bland main character and then he or she has its quirky stereotypical friends. This movie is little hard to get into at first but thats the only thing I don't like. I would recommend this movie to anyone, especially if they like movies like The Breakfast Club. I fell in love with this movie, and I hope you will enjoy it too. DAMN THE MAN, SAVE THE EMPIRE! ;)