surprising

Rating: 8/10 (7 November 2005)

It's closing time at empire records. Lucas has close and he is anxious about it being but with this responsibility; but then he does something wrong. He takes off with nine thousand dollars to Atlantic City and loses it in one grand gesture on the craps table. The next day he comes to realise his mistake; but he's not the only one with problems today at empire records. Through this one day we meet the rest of the employees and one day they wont forget in a long time.
Today is Rex Manning day; Rex is making an appearance for signings. Corey loves Rex; she's loved him since she was a child and wants to offer herself to him. A.J though loves Corey, but cant decide whether to go to art school or not. Debra is the black sheep and is suicidal, but she wont let anyone get close to her for anyone to help. The rest of the employees are some of the craziest people; it would be awesome to work at empire records.
This was such a surprise watch. It doesn't really try to be anything prolific about teen life; instead is a honest comedy about a group of odd characters trying to set their lives on course. The jokes are perfectly timed; just before it seems to drop the ball and go flat, it quickly catches it and your attention is brought back. This does towards the end dive deep into the sentimentality, but it fits perfectly and it works to its advantage. Its also great to see a lot of actors at the beginning of their career before they became big. Renee Zellweger, Liv Tyler and Anthony LaPaglia give good honest performances, and Robin Tunney is great as the misunderstood Debra. All the performances are actually good, everyone gave their character an honest and unique personality, they seemed like real people and you could identify and relate to them.
Empire Records comes from the left field and delivers a great comedy of teenage life.