Recently, I watched this movie on television (on Flix), almost by chance. It came out way back in 1995, when I was just still a very young man. just two to three years removed from high school. The music scene still was exciting and vibrant and dominated by alternative and hard rock. That was trendy still at that moment. There is a lot of that kind of music in this movie, which was one of the relatively few redeeming aspects of this otherwise largely lifeless and - let me just say it outright - boring movie.
Now don't get me wrong: I usually like being reminded of the 1990's, and 1995 was one of the best years of my young adulthood. And with this movie almost exclusively taking place inside of a music store (just about the entirety of it, save for the opening scene, in fact) that looks and feels like the late great Tower Records stores, it felt a bit nostalgic. So yes, I could appreciate being reminded of a time when music stores like that not only still existed, but were relevant on a cultural level. Also, the music that played was pretty decent and nice to hear. That's pretty much it, the extent of what I actually appreciated about this movie. And again, this was unintended, as it feels like it was designed to appeal to the cultural trends of the time. The nostalgia, such as it is, still falls far short of saving this movie.
Also, this movie clearly had the presence of some talents who would make it big in the not too distant future. It features some very early performances and appearances by names which would become quite big in just a few years time.
That said, this movie just does not do much for the viewer otherwise. To be fair, my guess is that I would have had a much better time viewing this movie for the first time back at the time when it was still new, and in the movie theaters. I can imagine saying something similar to, "Yeah, I liked it," after being asked by some similarly young friends at the time.
The problem is that it probably would not have been entirely true. I would have liked being with friends, and being young, which often was part of the whole going out process at the time. But honestly, I think that it probably would have missed the mark for me even back then, even with my young mind and the presumably good times that we young people would be having on a night out.
And there's a very good reason for that. In short, this movie really misses the mark. The characters felt more like caricatures. While some of the actors would make names for themselves, the acting in this one really does not save it. The characters, and their problems, just are not convincing or, frankly, even interesting. They feel more like problems that big corporate executives who had a hand in getting this movie made would be convinced that young people in their late teens and early twenties could identify with, but which just felt....well, unrealistic. One of the major themes was the in-store appearance of a rock star who felt like his time had come and gone, names Rex Manning. And while watching this movie, Manning (played by Maxwell Caulfield) just reminded me too much of "Biff" from Back to the Future. He was not convincing as a rock star, again and outdated or otherwise.
Similarly, there is the standard suit and tie owner of a massive chain record store, and he is threatening to take over and make this supposedly distinctive and local community record store into just another characterless, nameless, faceless corporate entity. But the owner also feels too inhuman and "Funny" because of the absence of any humor. In short, he felt like somebody had written him in there just to be the butt of a joke, and not an actual executive with real motivations to get this store under his command and rake in the profits. He also felt not quite real, or even interesting.
In fact, the entire movie felt pretty much like this. Characters with problems that felt forced, and thus unreal. Makeshift moments where the characters seem to feel obliged to dance and show their beauty and youth (particularly the female characters), but which also felt more the product of some Hollywood executives than anything that you might find in real life.
Perhaps the character who felt most real to me, if you will, was Joe Reaves, played by Anthony LaPaglia. He was the closest thing to a "real person" in this movie, with problems that were more relatable to the viewer. At least his situation felt a bit more realistic and understandable, owning a music store that was struggling and trying to survive what feels like an inevitable corporate takeover. Even then, while he felt like a somewhat stabilizing presence in the movie, it was not quite enough to really even come close to saving this movie, which just has too many issues to count.
So other than the unintended nostalgia which, at times, appealed to me, there was little of any real interest in this movie. Sure, the music and the setting of what was then a trendy music store, as well as some glimpses of other things of the period (makeshift punk/grunge mosh pit, anyone?) could be fun. But it is not enough to save this movie.
This was a flat and, frankly, uninteresting movie, with characters and situations which felt more or less forced and meant to appeal to an audience of one time and of a certain sort, probably. There is nothing beyond this feeling largely like a shameless cash grab to milk the popular cultural trends of that time (the mid-nineties), probably by business executives in suits who bore a striking resemblance to the uninteresting and humorless villainous business exec in this movie, actually. But there is nothing which truly engaged the viewer to any of the characters or situations. Again, I do not remember this movie coming out, and was not even aware of it's existence until it happened to come on after a movie that I had actually watched on Flix. I gave it a chance, which is probably more than it deserved, truth be told.
Frankly, this is a movie with little to interest the vast majority of viewers out there, and with only some relics of a bygone era that serves as unintended nostalgia for that time period. So I cannot recommend this movie at all.
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