Damn the Man, Save the Empire! (spoilers)

Rating: 8/10 (7 August 2004)

Empire Records is one of the great music-based teen comedies made at the tail end of the grunge years. The characters are fantastic, the story is completely nutty, its got a pretty fantastic soundtrack, and the movie is really a good time all around, destined to bring a smile to your face.
Joe Reeves (Anthony LaPaglia) runs a record store, Empire Records. The movie takes place pretty much over the course of one crazy day of adventures and disasters at the store. Adventures and disasters that begin with a night of fowl gambling and the loss of the store profits by the cynical, sarcastic Lucas (Rory Cochrane). That sets things in motion. Joe sees the situation as major trouble (obviously, since he's the manager and responsible for the cash), while the rest of the clerks see it as an opportunity to seize the day!
In the course of this day, several things go on behind the scenes of Joe trying to figure out how to get the money back and in the meantime, explain to the owner why there was no deposit made at the bank the day before. As your typical Generation X comedies made in the early and mid 90s goes, you'll have a bunch of different, fairly interconnected situations among a scattered cast of characters and most of these stories are all about who is in love with whom. On this day at Empire Records, retro retard rock singer, Rex Manning, is at the store to autograph CDs for aging fans. Soft-spoken braniac, Cory (Liv Tyler) has made plans to approach Rex and let him know that basically she's grossly obsessed with him. Meanwhile, AJ (Johnny Whitworth), wants to seize the day and boldly profess his love to Cory, if only he can get the confidence to do so. Jane (Debi Mazar), the stereotypical badass of the group complete with shaved head and black attire, avoids explanation of some fresh scars on her wrists. Mark (Ethan Embry) and Eddie (my favorite character, played by James 'Kimo' Wills) are just being themselves, a crazy duo who love to have fun. All this going on while Joe has to try and save Empire Records thanks to Lucas's big mistake.
Sad but true, some things get quite corny. Some of the characters are obviously stereotypical and the Hollywood happy ending of such a bizarre day is quite unbelievable. But, basically, it's a movie about music, friendship, and romance played out to a good mid 90s soundtrack the features The Cranberries, The Gin Blossoms, Dire Straits, Edwyn Collins, and tons more. It ain't no cinematic masterpiece, but it is definitely one of the best teen/gen x comedies of its day (sharing the ranks with Freaked and Tank Girl, of course).
Damn the Man, Save the Empire!