SLC Punk!

USA 1999, 97 minutes
Dir. James Merendino
Rating: [R16]
Genres: Comedy / Independent, Punk, Youth

Topics: Period 1980s.

Feat. Matthew Lillard, Michael Goorjian, Annabeth Gish

Aroview: Based on a comic strip, this cartoonish comedy follows the ‘rebellious’ antics of Stevo and friends, the only punks in arch-conservative Salt Lake City in 1985.

With Matthew Lillard in blue rinse and Doc Martens, spouting anarchy and disillusionment but really just wanting love and attention, the sloppy script makes it fatally unclear as to what is meant to be satire and what is just plain juvenile. But with some glaring fashion anachronisms, we suspect the film-makers just didn’t get it either.

NZ International Film Festival 1999