Pump Up the Volume (1990)

  When Christy found out I'd never seen this movie she almost shit a brick.  Apparently, I have been remiss in my knowledge of the oeuvre of Christian Slater.  My bad.  I own Heathers and consider it to be the apogee of his cinematic achievement (with Robin Hood:  Prince of Thieves at the other end of that scale).

This one doesn't suck, though.  It is very much a product of its time, however, and perhaps rides the coattails of John Hughes' Breakfast Club just a little too much.  But it's still not bad.

Shy NY-transplant Mark (Christian Slater) hates his new Arizona high school and misses his old life.  He manifests this by turning into Happy Harry Hard-on, an unlicensed radio operator railing against the oppression of his life.  Mark is comfortable in his anonymity but when the populace starts to revolt against the tyrannical principal (Annie Ross), it takes a poetry-writing stalker (Samantha Mathis) to convince him that one voice can make a difference.

This movie is very high school and very 90's.  The soundtrack is decent and overall the movie isn't terrible, as I've said.  You just have to ignore that twitch in your eye every time you see a stonewashed denim jacket or rat tail on screen.  My advice:  drink.  It's even more enjoyable.