Empire Records (1995)

A record-shop shift expands into a referendum on taste, loyalty and whether the place should become a chain-store branch. The staff's elaborate emotional investment makes a promotional appearance by faded star Rex Manning feel like a state occasion. Empire Records works best when you enjoy a workplace as a slightly chaotic refuge, with Anthony LaPaglia's manager trying to hold its different temperaments together. Its cheerfully heightened resolutions sit beside distress, including a suicide-attempt storyline, rather than forming an entirely weightless hangout.