Pretty much my favourite romantic comedy

Rating: 10/10 (14 January 2012)

When coming to this movie there is so much in it that needs to be said and can be said that it is almost impossible to get everything out of it in 1000 words. Aristotle's unity of time and place plays out well in this film as the action occurs through a single day and plays out mostly in the record shop. Further, each of the characters in the film have an epiphany which will change the direction of their life.
The first is Lucas. He is a character that had a hard life but Joe, the manager of the store, was willing to drag him out of the muck that he was in and give him a second chance. This willingness occurs at the beginning of the movie where he is entrusted to lock up, but he finds out that the store is going to be bought out so he attempts to win enough money to buy it out. What can be said is he fails, yet he still returns to face the problem, and Joe does not turn him over to the police, even though he deserves it. Lucas is basically the voice of wisdom. He has been through everything that everybody is going to, so even though he is facing the possibility of a lot of trouble, he is still able to console everybody and give them the wisdom that is needed.
This brings me to Warren. He is a kid that is a shoplifter, but it seems that the kid has never had a close family. His background is not drawn out, but a lot of it is implied with his reaction to the close knit family that are the employers of Empire Records. He is hostile towards them, but the truth comes out when he enters the shop with a gun in a fit of jealous rage. He has never had a group of caring friends like those at Empire Records, so when he sees it, he wants to destroy it. If he cannot have it then nobody else can have it. The caring nature of Joe, and the people at Empire Records, turn to welcome him even though he stole from them and held them hostage.
Debbie is the next namely because she faces up to Warren. It is not because she is tough but because she has been through death and is no longer scared of it. She enters the movie, goes straight into the bathroom and shaves off all of her hair. She constantly tries to avoid the questions of the others, though her bandaged wrist attracts their attention. Why did she try to commit suicide? Her answer is that she woke up and realised that everyday of her life was the same: the only difference was that the problems that piled upon her were different. But what was her real problem? We realise this at her funeral - she does not die but they give her a funeral so that she knows not only that she is a part of this family but that her death would hurt people and that she would be missed. She realises what her problem is - she simply wants to be noticed, that is why she dresses the way she does, acts the way she does, and shaves her hair - she simply wants to be noticed. At he funeral she suddenly realises that people not only notice her, but also love her.
AJ is the next character. He is in love with Corey and wants to go to art college but he does not think that he is good enough. That is his problem: he does not have any faith in himself. He seems to be okay, but Lucas tells us at the beginning that everybody has a problem even though everybody denies that they do not have one. It is only when AJ is confronted by Corey that he realises that he has no faith in himself. He tells Corey that he loves her, but to Corey it is the wrong time. It wasn't because it started her thinking and she realised that she did love him, but even then he had given up because he did not expect it to happen, not to him. When confronted by Corey he realises that he is not hopeless and can do things, so he does.
Gina doesn't really change because she already knows herself. She is more of a character that Corey reacts from. She and Corey are good friends, but Corey does not understand so when Gina screws Rex Manning, Corey freaks. She then realises that Gina was simply being herself and that is something that must be admired. Gina does not care what people think, and lets that known plain and clear.
Joe is also an important character as he is the father figure in the movie. He has taken all of the characters in, including the delinquent Warren, and makes them apart of his family. Jane becomes the mother figure, or will as she does not take that role in the movie. Joe is the one that takes the big problems upon his own shoulders, but others come to him for help.
Empire Records is a very good movie and as a friend says, it seems to capture the hopelessness of the 90's. It is a movie about family when the family unit is collapsing. It shows us that going out on our own never solves anything, and this is made clear right at the beginning when Lucas fails in his bid to win enough money to buy the store back. It is a movie that shows us that me must work together to survive and to overcome all of our problems, yet also shows us that there are somethings that we must do for ourselves.