On Oct. 20, 1995, “Empire Records” premiered. The movie follows six teenage employees who work at a record store called Empire Records. Their mission is to save Empire Records from being sold to a chain record store. However, this proves to be difficult because each individual character is struggling with their own problems throughout the movie.
This film made me love the idea of working at a small record store. The characters are seen listening to their music over the speakers, dancing, singing, and just having a great time at work.
Each character has their own unique personality and subplots that add onto the story as a whole. Starting with A.J. (Johnny Whitworth), he is an artistic romantic. He has a giant crush on his best friend Corey (Liv Tyler), another employee at the store.
Corey is portrayed to be sweet and innocent, but her father puts a lot of pressure on her academically. I personally really enjoyed the way Tyler played Corey, as she was able to perfectly depict the broken perfectionist girl, especially when Corey runs through the record store, destroying everything and screaming, “I’ll show you perfect!”
Another employee named Gina is very sassy and is the usual movie stereotype of a 90s girl. Gina, played by Renee Zellweger, was my personal favorite character. She let Corey walk all over her until finally she explodes, revealing her own pain and jealousy towards Corey. It just felt so real because they had a strong friendship, but there were underlying negative feelings.
The whole movie wouldn’t have started if it weren’t for Lucas (Rory Cochrane). He is the irresponsible employee who gambled away the money that was supposed to save their record store. However, as the movie develops, Lucas becomes strangely wise. Most people have heard the common phrase “Damn the man, save the empire.” Little do they know that an irresponsible teenager from a 90s film was the one who said this iconic line.
Joe (Anthony LaPalgia) is the manager of the store, and he manages his employees outside and inside the job. He really is a father figure to the other characters, providing advice to them when needed and leading them through their quarrels with other characters.
I don’t want to spoil the movie too much, but a critique I do have is the way the writer of the film wrote the female characters’ behaviors. I personally feel like he made them too boy crazy, and their problems only came up because of boys. While there are deeper meanings behind the troubles with the guys, it isn’t necessarily needed in context to their main struggles pointed out in the film.
The final great thing that I will mention about this movie is the soundtrack. The songs fit perfectly to the vibe of the record store, and each song matches the characters. The song that is the signature tune for the movie, at least to me, is “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles.
This movie was masterfully created, and it is not talked about enough. Everything, from the music to the plot to the characters, was just so entertaining. There is so much more to discuss about this movie, but I think the best idea is to just go watch it. It’s currently available on Netflix, YouTube, and PLEX. Go watch it now!
