A group of young people work at the independent Empire Records. While closing up, Lucas (Rory Cochrane) discovers a contract in manager Joe Reaves (Anthony LaPaglia)'s office to sell out the store to big corporate Music Town. Lucas tries his luck with the store's cash to save the place and promptly loses $9k in Atlantic City. The next morning, A.J. (Johnny Whitworth) and Mark (Ethan Embry) are the first at the store. Corey Mason (Liv Tyler) and flirty friend Gina (Renée Zellweger) have a crush on 80's pop star Rex Manning (Maxwell Caulfield) who is coming to the store. His time is mostly pass and even his assistant Jane (Debi Mazar) doesn't like his music. Angry Deb (Robin Tunney) shaves her head. A.J. vows to reveal his love for Corey. They catch a young shoplifter who claims to be Warren Beatty. It's going to be a crazy day.This is a crazy wild mess of young people fun. The music is loud and mostly good. The story is full of teen angst. The best is the cast of great young up and comers. Tyler and Zellweger are in short skirts. Tunney actually shaves her hair. It's lots of teen melodramatic fun. The characters are appealing. It's certainly possible to be get-off-my-lawn on this movie but not me. Even a bad sleazy Maxwell Caulfield can't get me out of this movie.

Empire Records is arguably the worst "film" I have ever seen. I cannot even begin to comprehend how anyone can stand to tolerate this garbage. It seems like the entire film was conceived in a single evening. There was no thought or foresight put into this filth whatsoever. It's as if the screenwriter wrote a first draft and then immediately started handing the scripts out to B-movie actors. The abominations in this film which they call "characters" are completely unlikable. Many of their performances could have be pulled off using cardboard cutouts attached to oscillating fans. This movie's paper-thin plot advanced for about the first 10 minutes, then proceeded to spin its wheel in monotony and trash comedy until the last 20 minutes. I can't imagine that anyone could have read this script and thought, "Yeah that sounds like a great idea. Let's do it!" The actors in this film come off as budget acting school dropouts, who are hardly worthy of any roles at all. Plain and simple: DO NOT BOTHER. I wouldn't wish this film on my worst enemy, and I'm fairly certain that playing this during a time of war would be considered inhumane under the Geneva Convention.

This is my first movie review so i through i would start with one of the best films of all time! This film is the day in the life of a middle America record store!It shows the story of a number of misfits and what happens to them in a day that changes there life!Its funny, heartwarming and sad! Every time i have a bad day i watch this to cheer me up!With a great sound track and some pretty great acting for the stars of tomorrow (well now the stars of today!).SO if your looking to feel good about the 90's and want to listen to classic tunes as well this is one for you. Thou you want to watch the remix not original cut! But is awesome do watch

Empire Records is one of my all time favorite films. I watched it as a young teenager and I related to it quite a bit. There were some pretty funny comedic moments in the film and the music of the soundtrack gave a unique vibe to the movie. The best part about this film is that I am still able to watch it as an adult and I still enjoy the film as well as the music.The theme of Empire Records is the struggle of man against the greed of the corporate machine. Empire Records is an independent music store that is very lax with its employees, offers many different genres of music, and in general offers a very artistic environment for its customers. The owners of Empire wish to sell out and make Empire into a chain store. Joe, played by Anthony Lapaglia, is the store manager who takes an employee named Lucas, played by Rory Cochrane, under his wing. Together with the other misfits that work at Empire, they try to figure out a plan to save Empire from turning into a dreaded Music Town while dealing with their own personal problems on one very eventful day at the store.Other important issues that are addressed in this film include depression, Debra (played by Robin Tunney) cuts all of her hair off and tries to slit her wrist, drug addiction, Corey (played by Liv Tyler) is the perfect student who occasionally takes speed to help her stay awake to study, and risky sexual behavior, Gina (played by Renee Zellweger) thinks she will feel better about herself and find love by sleeping around.Two techniques used in this movie to demonstrate the theme were sound and lighting. The soundtrack of the film is very diverse and alternative which can be compared to the environment of Empire Records. Empire is not your typical music store and the music they play there is not always the most well known. The lighting of Empire can be considered dim and a little hazy at times, which compared to the harsh fluorescent lighting found at a chain store, gives Empire Records an even more unique feel. Another film that can be compared to Empire Records based on a similar theme is Office Space. In Office Space the employees (all from different walks of life) of a company are also trying to fight the corporate greed of their boss. Office Space is another one of my favorite movies. I think the reason I relate to these movies so much is because all of these employees band together to do something I probably never could, fight the greed of the corporate machine.