Rent Pump Up the Volume (1990)

Slater’s Broadcast of Rebellion - Pump Up the Volume review by griggs

Catching up with Pump Up the Volume three decades late, it’s hard not to grin at its period trappings. Pirate radio as rebellion now feels quaint beside podcasts and TikTok, but the core problems — teenage alienation, adults who don’t listen, and the hunger to be heard — haven’t aged a bit. There’s a sincerity to its angst that still resonates.

The trouble is that the film doesn’t trust its own simple power. What could have been a sharp coming-of-age story about voice and identity gets smothered in escalating jeopardy: corruption scandals, car chases, even a federal investigation. It’s as if every ten minutes someone decided the stakes weren’t high enough. The result is busy rather than focused, loud rather than piercing.

Christian Slater sells the fantasy, mumbling confessions into the mic with just enough charisma to make you believe kids might tune in. But you’re left wishing the film had the courage to do less. With space to breathe, its message could have been a hard-hitting classic. Instead, it’s a time capsule: earnest, overstuffed, yet strangely endearing.