Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work in a record store? Would it be boring? What would the staff be like? Allan Moyle's Empire Records (1995) gives you an idea of what it would be like to work in perhaps the craziest record store you would be able to find. The film is fantastic for teenagers because almost all of the actors played the part of a troubled teen growing up. Some actors in the film and the part they played were: Liv Tyler who plays the "A-star" student, Rene Zellweger who plays a self confessed slut, Johnny Whitworth who plays a love struck artist, and many more young aspiring actors. Empire Records is excellent giving the viewer a chunk of reality, and a small chunk of fantasy!.
Like a typical teenage movie, Empire Records has emotions getting tossed around. Hearts are broken, friendships are re-united, tears are shed, and of course; the ending is a happy one. All of these characteristics would qualify this movie as a drama, but that's where the tables turn. The film is quite random. Many times an entire scene will be made that has no particular meaning, which actually makes the movie quite funny. Each character can make a joke about another characters problem. Although it is not nice, it makes the movie magnificently hilarious! Any movie that can make me cry in one scene from a character realizing that the person they love does not love them back, and then laugh in the next scene from an employee eating "marijuana brownies" has got to be good!.
Movies enjoyed by adults usually do not have a plot based around the lives of 7 adolescents. Empire Records is definitely an under-rated movie. As stated by Linut in the "Save the Empire Review," "Empire Records is a great movie, and definitely one of the most under-rated compare to some of the movies of its kind." The film is appreciated more by adolescents because we can relate to it more. Empire Records does not get the type of recognition it deserves, but it is a great teenage movie, with one heck of a soundtrack!.
