Last night I watched Pump Up the Volume. And I learned a lot. (1) Seth Green was in it! WTF? He played the kid who pipes the guidance counselor's speech over the PA system. (2) I must have mostly watched it on USA or TNT when I was a teenager, because there is a shitload of f-bombs and Samantha Mathis showed her tits. In fact she did an entire scene topless. How could I have forgotten that? And(3) Christian Slater was great. He actually made quite a few good movies in the 90's. Gleaming the Cube, in which he solved his adopted brother's murder, and Heathers are two of my favorites. But arguably his best work was in Pump up the Volume. He creates two unique characters. Mark, the shy new kid with no friends who can't talk to girls. And Happy Harry Hard-on, a teen Lenny Bruce and reactionary channeling Eric Bogosian in Talk Radio. It was bloody brilliant. So why the FUCK did we throw him away? Keanu Reeves we kept. Johnny Depp we kept. For Godsakes, John Travolta has been turning up like a Canadian penny every two years since the 70's. But Christian Slater is stuck doing B-moves and crappy television shows that won't make it to November sweeps. So what? The guy did some drugs. So he bit some people. Okay. Maybe he was a self-aggrandizing wannabe James Dean. But he had the talent to back it up. If I was a screenwriter I would try to find a project for him. He's still good looking. He still owns the screen any time he is on it. The man is a moviestar. He just doesn't have a movie career to speak of.
While I'm complaining I should also ask the question of why the movie itself is so seldomly mentioned as a cultural touchstone. The music is a time capsule of the period. The clothes are a great deal more indicative of the time than in Heathers. And the monologues Hard Harry gives completely encapsulated how Generation-X became Generation "Why bother" until September 11 gave us a little persepctive. Harry gave voice to the confusion that resulted from being the children of Baby Boomers. I will not force you to endure another of my diatribes against Baby Boomers. But how were we supposed to be committed and engaged when we'd seen how easily sixties radicals who fought the establishment, became the establishment. And of course the film provides the requisite teen angst bullshit, this time with a very small body count (just the kid who killed himself). Rebellion used to be cool. Nowadays teenagers would suck Hitler's cock to fit in. No one rebels anymore. Every teenager I know is preoccupied with listening to the right music, having the right gadgets, and finding a way to get famous. In addition the film has one of the best villains of any teen movie, in the test score obsessed school principal Mrs. Crestwood. She kicks out all the kids who don't fit in and are unlikely to have high SAT scores. She considers some of the kids "losers" and ruins their lives. She gives a cold red bun wearing face to the bureaucracy that every teen is afraid of. She takes away the children's futures, just because she wants to. She has all the power and all they can do is take it. In comparison Darth Vadar was just a henchman for the Emperor.
If you haven't watched Pump Up the Volume in more than five years, I insist that you watch it right now. Otherwise you won't believe me just how awesome it was, and what it meant to you as a teen. And do what you can to give Christian Slater a career. Even if you have to watch the shit he does now.
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