Review of Empire Records (1995) by Dave S — 30 Mar 2009

A sentimental favorite, although I wasn't expecting to suddenly start to notice how young everyone looks in this. In Moyle's "Pump up the volume" he at least had the whole pirate radio DJ premise to help explain away some of the more confessional monologues, but when it comes to the employees at Empire, who are prone to abrupt proclamations of exactly what they're thinking or feeling, you kind of just have to assume there's something in the water.

Still, Renee Zellweger and Liv Tyler's mini-"Valley of the Dolls" moment is an unheralded classic of its kind. Also a good example of the mixed blessing of extended DVD editions - they added back in some good character building stuff, so the plot makes a little more sense, but it throws the pacing way off - although that could just be because the new transitions often lack the soundtrack music that's so present elsewhere.

Then again, the extended cut does throw in a second, more explicit reference to The Shaggs, so I guess it's not all bad.