Empire Records

Staff at an independent record shop spend one day trying to stop it being sold to a chain. On the same day Rex Manning, a fading pop star, is in for a signing. It opened on 22 September 1995 and collapsed: 303,841 dollars against a 10 million budget, with only 150,800 on the opening weekend. The reviews were harsh too. Roger Ebert gave it one and a half stars and called it a lost cause, Variety dismissed it as a soundtrack in search of a movie, and TV Guide called it an elaborate excuse to package and peddle a soundtrack CD. And the soundtrack worked. The album sold around two million copies, and the Gin Blossoms' Til I Hear It from You reached number nine and became their first major hit. Music supervisor Mitchell Leib summed up the contradiction: selling two million records for a film that took 147,000 dollars is unbelievable. The cast includes early roles for Liv Tyler and Renée Zellweger. It became a cult film on video, and 8 April is now marked by fans as Rex Manning Day. Reassessing it in 2020, The Guardian wrote that what saves it is its unselfconsciously optimistic, goofy, principled spirit. Who it is for: viewers who love nineties record shop culture and ensemble comedy. Who it is not for: anyone wanting structure. The film really is shapeless and several subplots go nowhere.