# S.L.C. Punk! (1999)

### reviewed by
Michael Dequina

    _SLC_Punk!_ (R) *** (out of ****)

Structurally speaking, James Merendino's portrait of Stevo (Matthew Lillard) and Bob (Michael Goorjian), two young punk rockers in 1985 Salt Lake City, is a complete mess. Blue-haired Stevo is the narrator; he often directly addressing the camera and is prone to abandoning points and plots in midstream in favor of random tangents that almost always never return to their point of origin. The chaotic result is unquestionably hard to follow at times, but that seems to be the point; though this hyperactive storytelling style, Merendino captures the anarchic spirit that is, as Stevo eloquently explains at length at various points, the essence of the punk movement.

Still, with so much--or, depending on how one looks at it, so _little_--going on, _SLC_Punk!_ would be all sound and fury without a strong center, and the film does have one in Lillard. It would have been easy for him to coast by on pure attitude and ebullience, but Lillard invests the role of Stevo with genuine humanity, which is essential for the climactic moment where he inevitably comes of age. Lillard is supported well by the able troupe playing the many secondary characters that pass through the film. Particularly memorable is Til Schweiger as a quick-tempered drug dealer; on the other hand, notably underused as Stevo and Bob's ladies' man buddy Eddie is Adam Pascal, in whose footsteps I will someday follow as Roger Davis in the musical _Rent_.

Michael Dequina mrbrown@iname.com | michael_jordan@geocities.com Mr. Brown's Movie Site: http://welcome.to/mrbrown CompuServe Hollywood Hotline: http://www.HollywoodHotline.com

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