Owen's reviews revisited: Was I wrong to pan 'Metropolitan' and 'Pump Up the Volume'? Yes and no

Metropolitian was fuzzy and boring. now things really came alive with Last Days of Disco. Oh those pre-yuppies were completely glorious and ridiculous. It’s one of my favorite movies and definitely a favorite of his.

I have never seen “Metropolitan,” but I loved “Pump Up the Volume” when I saw it in theatres twenty years ago. I was a teenager myself at the time so I think I identified with the characters, particularly Slater’s, immensely. I have not seen it in its entirety since, only in parts while aimlessly channel surfing on cable. I would like to watch it again though, and maybe check out Metropolitan too. The only Whit Stillman film I think I’ve seen is “The Last Days of Disco,” which was good but not great.

“Metropolitan” holds up perfectly well now, largely because Stillman made a point of making the setting seem timeless by avoiding pop cultural references. (The only real hint is the reference to Buñuel’s “Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie”, which would place the film sometime after 1972, a year when Stillman was about the same age as the characters he’s created.) Anyway, it doesn’t matter when the movie is set; like Broadway, the “untitled aristocracy” is always an invalid on the wane.

I still think you miss the importance of manners in the film; they’re not just a shibboleth or a secret club handshake; rather, they’re all these fading aristocrats have left to offer. They’re what makes these characters different from the “Gossip Girl” crowd, who may have wealth and Upper East Side real estate but can’t buy manners, class, taste, and breeding. Their vulgarity is the difference between new money and old money. (Man, I can’t believe I’m defending those “Metropolitan” snobs, but Stillman has made them sweet and vulnerable by making them wistfully aware of their own obsolescence.)

(Disclosure: Like you, Owen, I struck up a friendly acquaintance over the years with Stillman through various film-related events, and he became irked at me over a couple of points of contention I had with “The Last Days of Disco,” a movie I enjoyed but which I appreciate much more now than I did when it came out.)

As for “Pump up the Volume,” of course it’s overly self-dramatizing, but so are John Hughes movies and any other film that sees teens the way they see themselves. (To teens, every event is a crisis, every petty martinet authority figure a world-class tyrant, and every act of rebellion an earth-shaking revolution.) I can see why you’d find this irksome as an adult moviegoer (I did, and I was not far removed from my teen years when the film came out), but from a teen POV, much about it seems fresh, radical, exciting, and new, even Slater’s junior Jack Nicholson act (which, thankfully, he grew out of eventually). It’s not as good a movie as “Heathers” or the much cleaner Hughes films; its aspirations are loftier and artier, and I don’t think it achieves them that often. But it offers a potent pop catharsis that’s more thoughtful (and therefore, perhaps more disturbing and formidable) than those of, say, “Over the Edge” or “Rock and Roll High School.”

As an adult, one wishes one could talk to the youngsters in both “Metropolitan” and “Pump Up the Volume” and say, “You really have no idea what’s in store for you,” but they wouldn’t listen. Everyone has to make their own mistakes.

I’m glad you’re doing this exercise, Owen. Anyone who’s been a critic long enough should follow your example. I would like to know, though, for the movies like “Metropolitan” where you now reverse your initial opinion, what do you suppose is the reason that your judgment was clouded at the time?

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