Empire Records Full Of Idiot Slackers

Rating: 4/10 (31 May 2009)

Empire Records is a classic case of someone saying "hey, I think I'll write a screenplay about the place where I work. There are all these weird, eccentric characters I can develop by easily basing them on the goofballs I work with." The threadbare plot about a slacker who gambles away the day's record sales at Atlantic City isn't enough to sustain or entertain throughout a feature length film. The characters, while weird and eccentric, are so unlikeable and have few if any redeeming traits. The best of the lot are Liv Tyler and Renee Zellweger. The male characters are all slackers who haven't grown up yet. There's absolutely no reason why the store manager shouldn't have turned in the Lucas character to the police. There's obviously a history shared between the store manager and the employees, but the store manager only demonstrates that he's a huge pushover unable to grow up himself. The film tries to portray the manager and his employees as a surrogate family with a "Breakfast Club" screenplay. Then the characters release all their angst and are supposed to be a little more together and wiser at the end. It doesn't work. I don't care about any of these extremely immature idiots; they're all just annoying and need to grow up. *1/2 of 4 stars.