Plotless

Rating: 5/10 (4 March 2003)

Going into Empire records, I admit that I had high expectations. Having just come off of a High Fidelity buzz (Record store movies were kind of a theme that night), I decided to watch Empire for the first time and afterwards I was very let down.
So many people I know talk about this movie as if it were some kind of a god-send or something. To me it was just mediocre at best. The beginning starts off very funny with Lucas' debacle, and I would think that they would really take that and build a decent plot around it; but the writer and director failed...miserably.
The problem is that this movie is way too outlandish and indecisive. No one person is the central focus, the movie is comprised of several little sub plots, and this gives the audience no real connection to any of the characters and caused me to not give a d-mn about any of them. What little plot the movie has is just too weak to hold up, and so many unrealistic situations happen.
As far as being funny, there were few moments where I genuinely laughed. And as far as being dramatic, I couldn't feel for any of the characters because of the lack of attention focused on any one of them. Empire Records is at best an average "teen flick" and couldn't keep me interested. Want a better movie involving a record store? See High Fidelity. It has much more meaning than this shallow movie.