Which, in this case is a good thing. I've seen the title before, found it vaguely interesting. However, without having heard anything about it, I wasn't going to chunk any money on it.

Then it came on cable, so I decided to give it a chance.

I've seen Matthew Lillard in about four movies, and so far he has been a single-note actor, always playing the ragingly obnoxious punk. Still, on that one-note he is amazingly convincing and impossible not to watch. Much like Jimmy Stewart or early Arnold Schwarzenegger, building fame on familiarity.

Christopher MacDonald gave the best performance I've seen him do as Steveo's dad. Very solid, sympathetic, and even likeable.

The movie itself mesmerized far more than I expected. I was transfixed from the beginning to end.

Acting and clothes were excellent, not a sour note in the entire lot. Plotting and scripting were very well developed. The movie kept me involved, interested, and ready to buy. Thank you for a great movie.

I need to warn you right up front that I will be discussing the ending of this film in these comments, but I will insert another warning right before I do so.

SLC Punk is a surprisingly good film. It's manic pacing and overloaded visual style may annoy some viewers, but these techniques were quite intentional. The feeling of confrontation they create is completely appropriate to the subject matter and the story, set in the 80's Salt Lake City punk scene.

Speaking of which, many of the comments on this site have harped on the fact that you have to be a punk to enjoy this film. This couldn't be further from the truth. Any fan of art, which by its nature tests the limits of society's rules, could enjoy this film. I would even hazard a guess that some true punks would enjoy it less than the average film buff, as turning a critical eye to the soundtrack or the exact depiction of affairs in the punk world could lessen the films overall effect, which is quite strong.

This film deals in a meaningful way with the feeling of the Outsider. In that respect, it is perhaps a closer relative of On the Waterfront or Easy Rider than Pulp Fiction, the film to which it has most often been compared(largely because this is the inevitable comparison of 90's film.) What makes this film different from either Waterfront or Rider, as well as Sid and Nancy, is its often lighthearted tone. It is impressive that in this humor, we still can see most clearly the anger of the characters. It is a humor born of overwhelming tension and displacement rather than one of light-hearted frivolity and, as such, is completely believable.

***Spoiler Alert***

All this said, after viewing the movie, I was rather vexed by the ending. It was not so much the fact of the Lillard character's "selling out" that bothered me, but rather the ease with which he could accomplish the feat. To my mind, the film ignored its own wisdom, which lies in the fact that the true outsider feels too distanced from his society to be able to rejoin it, even as an "establishment rebel," in one fell swoop. This movie is too good to end this quickly and wrap things up so tightly. A more realistic picture may have involved a somewhat tortured process for the Lillard character, which may have been difficult given the film's pace but which would have been much more believable.

Anyone who has spent time in the American punk underground will find many points of reference in SLC Punk. The film is an amazingly realistic portrayal of the suburban punk subculture. All the issues are here: poseurs, sell outs, authenticity, straight edge, rebellion, boredom...and of course the perennial problem of whether mods and punks can get along! I can't recommend this gem strongly enough.