Cast:
Christian Slater (Mark Hunter), Samantha Mathis (Nora Diniro), Mimi Kennedy (Marla Hunter), Scott Paulin (Brian Hunter), Cheryl Pollak (Paige Woodward), Annie Ross (Principal Loretta Creswood), Ahmet Zappa (Jaime), Billy Morrissette (Mazz Mazzilli), Seth Green (Joey), Robert Schenkkan (David Deaver), Ellen Greene (Jan Emerson), Andy Romano (Mr. Murdock), Anthony Lucero (Malcolm Kaiser), Lala Sloatman (Janie), and James Hampton (Arthur Watts) Written and Directed by Allan Moyle.
Review:
“[Pump Up the Volume] is my favorite movie I’ve ever done. … It wasn’t a typical high school movie, and it really did get into some of the darker, more gruesome details of what it’s actually like to be a teenager in high school.” - Christian Slater
“I don’t know how to make a good movie, but I know how to make a bad movie, and that’s try to appeal to everybody.” — Allan Moyle
There are quite a few things one can be hard-pressed to admit when it comes to looking back on films like this from the era of the 1990s. Movies involving teenagers and angst or life seemed to take on a new phase that were different from ones made by John Hughes, even if there were a few outliers like Heathers (1988), which featured Christian Slater. Of course, the hard-pressed truth is that film is actually quite inferior in its teenage angst angle than this film, which actually manages to do better in every aspect from characterization (and actually sticking to it!) to music to gracing the ending (each move to the logical point one might see coming, but it seems more right with this). I kid you not, each film also would inspire a musical production. Each failed at the box office, but Heathers has had the cult following befitting an exploitation movie (at least the one it may or may not have ripped off) while Pump Up the Volume isn't even readily available on many release outlets (owing to music licensing). So be it. Besides, this film has the real angle of aiming for a message about free speech alongside its angle about finding one's voice as a teenager in a weird world that makes it an underrated gem. It is funny to consider that it came out from a director who had meant to stay retired. Allan Moyle was born in Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada. Moyle had a classmate in his high school that had an amateur printing press that would be used for offbeat papers to spread around school; the student took his own life, and it affected Moyle. In fact, the original script that Moyle wrote for what would be this film revolved around a pirate DJ saying that he will end it all with his final broadcast (...or will he?). Moyle had gotten into film writing with Montreal Main (1974) and directing with The Rubber Gun (1977). Times Square (1980) was his second effort, but the meddling of producer Robert Stigwood (who seemed to have aspirations for another film success like Saturday Night Fever) to the final cut meant that Moyle would swear off directing for a decade. Moyle wanted to only do writing, but it was the meeting with a producer in Sandy Stern that proved a key to directing again (he had grown up with radio shaping his teenage years). He saw the fairly green script by Moyle and brought himself to work on re-writing the script (mainly in that there wasn't an ending) for a year. At any rate, the film eventually found a production company with New Line Cinema, and the experience spent by Moyle and Stern was reportedly very cooperative (of course Moyle has often noted that he did not generally get to use his more experimental tendencies with his films).
Honestly, I am curious to what would have happened if the idea of the film had come around a decade later. Heck, if this was 2021, we might see a lead character that probably does a podcast in a shed. Teenagers not being taken seriously isn't exactly a new one, but Moyle has made a movie where self-awareness is a curse for the young or old when not being taken seriously. Of course, any soundtrack that has Leonard Cohen is on the money. Sure, folks might be more interested in hearing Sonic Youth or Beastie Boys, but there is generally a song for everyone when it comes to something that resonates with the beat of the film without feeling pre-packaged. So basically, it is a movie with plenty of chutzpah that is backed up by the presences of its actors. Slater is the easiest standout, because he is basically playing two sides of the coin of a performer in the persona that reflects against the one behind said voice. The rebel voice on the radio might not seem like a hard job to do, but eventually finds it to not just be a bit for easy crude jokes, because it gets balanced with the quieter man in the daylight (i.e. soft-spoken) that hits right at home for the supposed Generation X crowd (after all, how many movies are there existing to admire the 60s when compared to ones that tell the 60s to go stuff it?). In other words, it proves quite fit for the crowd at large without alienation or pap detected in those monologues. When it comes to that exchange involving someone troubled about how serious they are about a life-or-death decision, it still strikes a chord, one that is relevant to our day in its striking tone. Following along is Mathis, making her film debut (she had dabbled in television for two years). There is a certain kind of spark to her performance that is inviting in curiosity that goes quite well with Slater in interesting passion (of course it also can read as an offshoot of the figure/fan dynamic). Pollak and Morrissette stand out well among the teen-folk, whether that means in a preppie that lets it all it out or a punk kid having fun away from school. Kennedy and Paulin make for worthy parental figures for what is needed - well meaning without being caricatures, while Ross plays the adversarial adult figure with worthy patronizing charm; incidentally, the other standout figure is Hampton, who has a brief role in the end as an FCC man under siege by teenagers that is quite amusing. As a whole, the ending is probably the one thing that keeps it from really being a great movie (really what can one do when having kids on the run from the FCC?), but in a changing tide of teen movies, it sure packed a fun wallop. It is the kind of movie that would sneer at you for calling it ripe for the teenage vision of a new era, but there is something to enjoy for everyone in an experience that is generally aware of what it wants to say for 105 minutes with a cast and crew that seem ripe at home for a worthy gem of the era.
Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.
Review #1482: Little Shop of Horrors.