Empire Records

Empire Records is one of those films where almost nothing about the plot should justify how much people love it, but the characters, music and whole 90s atmosphere make it impossible not to get pulled in.

The story is incredibly simple. The shop might be sold, Lucas panics and gambles the money away, everyone has one day to sort out the mess. That is basically it. The film never needs some huge twist or complicated storyline because hanging around with these people is the point.

The soundtrack is probably the biggest reason it works as well as it does. Everyone on the podcast agreed it is one of the best movie soundtracks of the 90s. What I like is that it does not feel like somebody just picked the biggest alternative songs they could find. The music feels tied to the characters and the shop. Different people like different things, nobody is treated like a music snob and the whole place feels like somewhere actual music nerds would have wanted to work.

The film also captures the 90s without looking like it is desperately trying to recreate the 90s. The clothes, the hair, the record shop, the music and even the way the characters talk all feel natural because the film was actually made in the middle of it. Watching it now gives it this effortless nostalgia that modern throwback movies cannot really fake.

Lucas is probably the character who creates the entire disaster, but Rory Cochrane makes him weirdly likeable. His relationship with Joe feels almost like a father and son relationship. Joe is furious with him, understandably, but you never get the impression he has given up on him.

Mark is another favourite. He is such a massive idiot in the nicest possible way. His complete sincerity breaks up some of the darker moments, especially when the film starts dealing with Deb's suicide attempt and Corey's pressure around sex and adulthood. The movie looks like a colourful teen comedy, but there is a lot more going on with the characters than people sometimes remember.

Eddie might actually be the MVP. He turns up with pizza, cares about records, does not seem to have a malicious bone in his body and somehow always appears exactly when the film needs somebody to lighten the mood.

Renée Zellweger is brilliant as Gina too. The rooftop sequence lets her go from the loud, confident character everyone thinks they know into somebody much more vulnerable. That is one of the things Empire Records does well: nearly everyone has a version of themselves they perform for the people around them, then the film slowly shows you what is underneath.

Corey is probably where the film annoyed us most. Liv Tyler is good, but the character can be very goody two shoes and some of the screaming gets a bit much. AJ also takes a while to become interesting. A few of the male characters can feel like background furniture until later in the film.

There are also some extended cut scenes I could happily live without. The blue cheese bit is disgusting and does not exactly improve anything. Sometimes deleted scenes are deleted for a reason.

None of that stops the film working because the tone is so strong. It is funny, messy, warm and completely sincere. The money flying around to 'Money' is still great, Rex Manning is exactly the sort of washed up celebrity nightmare the story needs, and by the end you genuinely want the shop to survive even though half the employees would probably get fired anywhere else.

Empire Records flopped when it came out, which feels almost impossible now because it has become such a massive cult film. Maybe that is part of the appeal. It feels like something people found for themselves rather than something they were told was important.

Damn the man. Save the Empire.