Pump Up The Volume (1990) ***1/2

Pump Up The Volume (1990) is a film that I would have loved and appreciated a lot more if I had seen it when it was released or sometime in the 90s. Its subject matter is right up my alley and it undoubtedly would have appealed to a tween or teen me. As it is, this one escaped me and I only just watched it for the first time, so it was a different experience than I am convinced it would have been had I seen it at a younger age.

All that is to say that PUTV is very much a product of its time and some elements have not aged well but its message of fighting the establishment still resonates. The first half or so of the film is excellent, but I felt that the latter half's love story was sloppily handled, and some of the editing and plot details were messily revealed. Additionally, the character development could have been a whole lot better. 

Christian Slater does do a great job of carrying the film, but every time he becomes the withdrawn "shy Mark" it feels like a put on (whenever he runs his hand through his hair in what I assume is supposed to be an awkward, nervous habit it just feels like he's being a movie star). Samantha Mathis is superb as the driving force of the film and an assertive female lead, convincing Mark that what he's doing is important whenever he doubts himself. I really appreciated that she ends up being complicit in Mark's cause and that the ending of the film doesn't relent.