Empire Records

1995 Comedy

A funky little record shop provides the setting for this youthful comedy that centers on the workers there as they try to help poor Joe Anthony LaPaglia), the manager who really wants to buy the place, recoup his losses after his well-meaning, but dim-bulbed employee Lucas (Rory Cochrane ) steals his savings and loses it all in Atlantic City while trying to increase it twofold at the gaming tables. If they cannot come up with the loot, the mega-chain Music City will buy it.

Director: Allan Moyle

Starring: Anthony LaPaglia, Rory Cochrane, Johnny Whitworth, Liv Tyler, Renee Zellweger

 11 Reviews  1 Awards

Reviews

  • For all its faults, the good-natured, quirky humour that this for the most part offers ultimately makes it very hard to dislike.

    Caroline Westbrook - Empire

    19 January 2013

  • Insubstantial, predictable and often dull, it's a dismaying move from director Allen Moyle, who displayed a real grasp of pulp energy in 1990's "Pump Up the Volume".

    - TV Guide

    19 January 2013

  • The film exists for its shots of telegenic youngsters busting loose to a bankable soundtrack, and it's the cheesy dialogue, overstuffed plot, and predictable character arcs that come across as superfluous.

    Nathan Rabin - The A.V. Club

    19 January 2013

  • The movie is too blatant a throwback to crass '80s teen fodder to really work.

    Ty Burr - Entertainment Weekly

    19 January 2013

  • If the movie is a lost cause, it may at least showcase actors who have better things ahead of them.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    19 January 2013

Awards

  • Most Performed Songs from Motion Pictures

    ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards (1997)

Lists

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