Pump Up the Volume

Filed Under: Film, Reviews | Article Tags : DVD review

By: The Dweeb

September 2002

DVD Features

Video: 1.85:1 and 1.33:1 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0

Theatrical Trailer
Cast and Crew Filmographies
Interactive Menus

Theatrical release: 1990
DVD released on 12/21/1999 by New Line Cinema
Running time of 102 minutes

Starring: Christian Slater, Ellen Greene, Samantha Mathis, Scott Paulin

Director: Allan Moyle

Plot: By day, Mark Hunter (Christian Slater) is a painfully shy new kid in a small Arizona town. But by night, he’s Hard Harry, the cynical, uncensored DJ of a pirate radio station. Idolized by his high school classmates (who are unaware of his real identity), Harry becomes a hero with his fiercely funny monologues on sex, love and rock and roll. But when he exposes the corrupt school principal, she calls in the FCC to shut Harry down.

This is a film that I really liked when it first came out, I was a teenager then too and it spoke to me. So, I recently came back to this film over a decade later, and of course my perspective has changed, and so have my feelings about this movie. Aside from laughing at the 80’s haircuts and clothing styles (damn I wore that crap?), this movie tries hard to tackle the many issues that face teenagers in modern day America. Its a bold move that most in Hollywood would probably try to stay away from these days, but in this case I don’t think it worked out so well. They just tap the surface with issues like teen pregnancy, depression, and suicide. It’s still a good popcorn movie, and the soundtrack is great foreshadowing of the “alternative rock” explosion, but it just didn’t do much for me this time around.
Christian Slater is the highlight of this film, it’s fun to watch him go nuts on the microphone as “Hard Harry”. But, I thought when he ran around school as the shy geek, it seemed a little too forced to me. I don’t think anybody could ever go around in life being that introverted can they? Aside from that, I think its some of his best work, more memorable than some of the recent stuff that he’s been in anyways. Its not Oscar caliber, but it gets the job done.
I think the main problem lies with the rest of the characters in this movie, especially the adults. His parents and teachers are all cardboard cutouts, all are flimsy with no substance. His folks are too apathetic to figure out their son is the mystery DJ, and his mom looks like an alcoholic anyway, she’s always got a glass of wine on hand. Then there is the evil principal (Annie Ross), man does she hate people, especially teens. And who the hell came up with that reporter’s name? Shep Sheppard? Oh Come on! The unrealistic behavior of the students is what really bothered me, who dances in public listening to some boombox? I was embarrassed for her and those two white boys talking “ghetto” all of a sudden. Ok, so there was my rant.
The picture and sound are decent quality on the disc. Since it is dual layered you get the option of widescreen or standard. I haven’t seen a DVD do it this way before, thought that was interesting. But this is a barebones release, so it is lacking in many extras. We only get the trailers and the filmographies, which is typical of an older studio catalog release anyways. It would have been nice to include a soundtrack only option, it would work for this movie since it plays such a significant role.
Overall its decent teen fare, a bit outdated, but it still works on some levels. I would say though, you could save yourself the money and wait for it to show up on TNT late night sometime.