Why do people love this movie so much?

Rating: 7/10 (12 September 2008)

Empire Records has been regarded as a cult favorite from the last couple decades. The story in general is nothing special. It's predictable, generic, and at times not even existent. Lets be serious here, the film ends in about a half dozen separate miracles, every problem was solved by the end of the day  everybody's never been better, and they all dance on a rooftop. So how has this film maintained such a dedicated fan base over all these years? What this film was so successful in was having such a great cast, and an even better soundtrack. Since the plot of the film was so lacking, the film had to rely heavily on dialogue in order to push the story forward and keep the audience engaged. Every role was cast perfectly, each character unique and troubled in their own way. All of the performers played very well off of each other, when you watched the movie it truly felt as though you were watching these people for a day at their record store. All of the characters were believable, and interesting to watch.
Perhaps the strongest attribute to the film, however, was its soundtrack. The music throughout the film was able to keep the audience into every character, every emotion, and every scene that was appearing before them. The music was refreshing, fun, and very fitting to the scenes they were attached to. The music will probably always be regarded as the most remarkable aspect of the film.
What's so interesting about this movie is the fact that it is able to be so successful even without a decent story. The filmmakers were able to use different resources in order to engage an audience and keep so many people interested in the film  even so many years after its release. Empire Records truly was revolutionary for its time.