Pump Up the Volume (1990)
September 29th, 2006
This movie about pirate radio and teenage angst works just as well now as it did in 1990. A brilliant performance by Christian Slater, who seems to have ended up famous mostly for his Jack Nicholson impersonation; but he is very fine in this movie.
This isn’t a period piece, but it is old enough to trigger reminiscences about cassette tapes and a time before there was a computer on every desk.
The female lead is Samantha Mathis. Two of the best scenes in this movie occur when highschoolers Slater and Mathis dance together, both bare from the waist up, and the next day when they meet at school and are struck dumb and giggly by their innocent passion and their shared secret. There isn’t any overt sexuality in this movie, but it is very hot.
Watching this movie again 16 years later, I was surprised by how moving I found it. Teenage angst doesn’t only apply to teenagers. We could all stand to hear again that it’s ok to be yourself, whoever you are, and that no matter how weird you think you might be, you are still ok.
I love this movie.
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