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| Directed by James Merendino; Starring Matthew Lillard, Michael A. Goorjian, Annabeth Gish, Jennifer Lien, Christopher McDonald, Devon Sawa, Jason Segel, Summer Pheonix, James Duval, Til Schweiger, and Adam Pascal |
In the 1970s a new wave of anarchy began in New York and Los Angeles. It was not until the 1980s and the emergence of anti-Reagan sentiment for the “punk” movement to get into the rest of American society. Not surprisingly, one of the last metropoli for the movement to get to was Salt Lake City, Utah. That is where S.L.C. Punk! tries to get its point. Through the story of the fictional first two punks, the film tries to show the downfall of these two anarchists against assimilation into Mormon society.
One of my biggest problems with the film is that, like the British import from earlier this year Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, it tries too hard to be catchy. It seems to want to be Trainspotting so much that it turns out paling to it simply because comparison is the first thing that comes to mind. The two protagonists (or would they be antagonists?) are almost complete carbon copies of the Renton and Tommy characters from Trainspotting. Even the ending evokes fond memories of the great Scottish film. The direction seems pushed at times as edginess does not come very subtly.
But in the end, S.L.C. Punk! works more than it fails. The script works well, though its few delves into drama fail miserably. I thought Matthew Lillard gave a great performance as the narrator. Goorjian is also quite good as Heroin Bob (though his unbelievable resemblance to mohawked Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver was a little off setting). One of the biggest surprises about the film was in the small performance from Devon Sawa. You may recall that last week I gave him slight praise for a good performance in Idle Hands, but when I saw his name in the opening credits of S.L.C. Punk! I was still quite weary of him just guessing that Idle Hands was a bit of a fluke for him. But his performance in S.L.C. Punk! is scene-stealing. I’m guessing that he is somewhat like Christina Ricci: forced to do poor PG movies until maturing to great R rated performances.
S.L.C. Punk! is lackluster, but still worth seeing if nothing else is attainable.
