Trying to find a middle ground between Oliver Stone and John Hughes, it misses both.

The fact that it does this simply and unabashedly gives the critic little to work with; it's all there, right on the surface, with nothing to decode–just a dream, and a dream of an idea, that it asks us to share and celebrate. And better yet, emulate.

As a movie, 'Pump Up the Volume' is a lot like a teenager: at times unbearably self-important and pretentious (Nora's poems, good lord), yet undeniably, and admirably, earnest.

This 1990 coming-of-age movie pulsates with the energy of disenfranchised youth that's finally found somewhere to channel their spirit.