SLC Punk!

I find the teen hang-out movie to be a weird sub-genre. From a marketing standpoint, it doesn't really make any sense. The hang-out movie is, by definition, character-driven, lacking in any sort of complex narrative. It's rarely flashy in its presentation; you won't find much in the way of high octane thrills in a hang-out movie. By and large, teenagers are basic creatures with basic tastes, especially cinematically speaking. Rare is the teenager who watches and appreciates a Robert Altman film; they're more likely to give Independence Day five stars than 12 Years A Slave. And yet, the teen hang-out movie is somehow successful. Movies like The Breakfast Club, Dazed & Confused, and Friday are all held in high regard not only by cinephiles and film nerds, but by your average Mountain Dew-chugging, Call Of Duty-playing, TikTok-watching teenager. SLC Punk is teen hang-out movie ... but, perhaps keeping in the spirit of its characters, it doesn't fit in with its peers in the genre. The Breakfast Club spoke to all teen demographics by having representatives from all the major high school factions. Dazed & Confused is just friends having a good time. SLC Punk stands apart from those, largely because it embraces the punk subculture, and does so earnestly. The writer/director James Merendino based the movie on his experiences growing up in Salt Lake City and people he knew there, and it shows. There is authenticity in how these early 20-something punks live and talk and party and associate with one another. These aren't a bunch of rebellious wannabes who bought a leather jacket and a Ramones shirt at Hot Topic. They're the real thing, and it comes through in every frame. Pushing that authenticity is the mind-blowingly excellent lead performance of Matthew Lillard. The dude has had a modestly successful career, but its been a career plagued by a certain reputation; either the eccentric performance from Scream, or Shaggy in Scooby-Doo. In SLC Punk, there is no sign of the high voice, the histrionics, or the abrasive quirkiness. He, frankly, acts his ass off as Stevo, a guy who turned to punk in his junior high years after being a D&D-playing, Rush-loving dweeb. The movie takes place in 1985, after Stevo and his buddy Bob have graduated college (much to their own dismay), and are pondering life as anarchist punks beyond the institutions of learning. They go to parties, they drink, they go to concerts, get in fights with most everybody ... which is all they've been doing for years. This is where the movie's cleverness comes into play. Stealthily, the movie is also a coming of age movie, but not in the same way that Pretty In Pink is. These aren't teens, after all. They're adults. The real world is on their doorstep. SLC Punk is about how long it takes for them to realize that adulthood is not leaving and they'll have to open the door eventually. That the youthful indignance and raging at the machine only lasts so long, and that if you stick with it past its natural expiration date, that path leads to a depressing road ... but adulthood leads to a depressing road, too. One of resignation and maturity. Taxes. Mowing the lawn. PTA bake sales. Blood pressure medication. As SLC Punk stretches on, these realizations start to hit Lillard, and he doesn't like it, which makes him dig in and rage more, but it's misplaced anger. Lillard portrays this realization and the existential crisis that follows with nuance I didn't think he was capable of. And credit to the movie itself for never making light of it or the situation around him. SLC Punk plays it straight. There's no "bye, Felicia" moment here. Perhaps, though, a little too straight. I have to admit I admire SLC Punk more than I enjoy it. It's well made, well acted, well directed, always honest, and never feels like it was made by someone co-opting the punk lifestyle, but it's also bone dry and, until the third act kicks in, emotionally monotone. The third act is different, but since it's different by being darker, that's not exactly a respite. It leaves SLC Punk in a weird place, where it checks every positive box -- execution, acting, script, authenticity -- except one: being entertaining. That makes this a challenging watch. Not harrowing like, say, KIDS, but, in perhaps a nod to the punk mindset, a somewhat hopeless movie. It is a movie version of the sentiment in the lyric "despite all my rage, I'm still just a rat in a cage". If you want to see how well that can be done, I recommend it. But if you actually want something moving or funny or some other form of enjoyment, SLC Punk may leave you feeling underwhelmed.