SLC Punk!

The "SLC" in SLC Punk! stands for Salt Lake City, the conservative home of the Mormon Church. Go back to 1985 and imagine a group of rebellious punk rockers living in Salt Lake City, sticking out like sore thumbs among the natives.

When I read the production notes about the film, I looked forward to seeing it. Having grown up as a mildly rebellious lad in the Bible Belt, I could identify with the plot.

"Disappointment" is the best one word description of the end product. "Missed opportunity" is a better two word description.

Salt Lake City is a beautiful city. Unfortunately, we only get to see it in the background from high speed, long distance camera shots showing the clouds blowing in and out. As far as any interaction with the natives, there really isn’t any. They may as well have shot the thing in Dubuque. Or Cut ‘N Shoot: Cut N’ Shoot Punk!

Instead, we are treated to the punk lifestyle of Stevo (Matthew Lillard), a recent high school graduate with blue hair who serves as the film’s narrator. He lives in a graffiti-laced garage apartment with his Mohawk-haired friend, "Heroin" Bob (Michael Goorjian). Stevo’s father (Christopher McDonald), a local attorney, is pulling strings to send his son to Harvard. Why bother? The young man would rather do drugs like LSD, contemplate his navel, party, and beat rednecks with a lead pipe.

The movie seems more interested in displaying dementia, as represented by a series of brief scenes featuring a montage of misfits. Writer-director James Merendino seems to open up a social commentary bilge tank to vent his personal frustrations about life. Loudly. In Merendino’s world, punkers rate above Mods, Nazis, hippies, Ronald Reagan, and rednecks. Whatever you say, James.