What they meant was that at these shows, they experienced personal, social and sometimes political revelations, they developed a different way to be in the world, and they were allowed to be different in the world. Such difference isn't always cutting-edge or rebellious, and it doesn't always involve drugs or music. Like Bingo and Grateful Dead concerts, raves have avid devotees who feel transformed by their experiences and live for more. It can only recount it. Which is not to say that Groove is a particularly good movie or that it delves profoundly into anything, but it does make me feel like I have some feeling for the rave scene and it was pretty fun to boot.
Groove serves as a kind of rave primer for newbies.
The dialogue is corny and the actors seem almost too eager. Finding rave space, getting the message out, out-foxing the cops, getting busted by the cops, and managing to party in spite of the cops are all just things you have to do for a party. But the naive optimism, earnestness, and joy that contribute to the cheesiness are sometimes very real emotionally. I had no real feeling for the characters, but I had a hard time dismissing Greg Harrison's earnestness, which was a little bit charming. And his passion, not that of any character, is the emotional center of the movie.