Mark Reviews Movies: SHOPLIFTERS OF THE WORLD

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Review by Mark Dujsik | March 25, 2021

Can the allure of a single band and its music drive the narrative, themes, and ultimate meaning of a movie? That's the question posed by Shoplifters of the World, which is set on the day that the English rock band the Smiths called it quits. Almost every significant character in this story mopes around in dismay and despair because their favorite band broke up, and while it's clear that writer/director Stephen Kijak wants us to understand that all this moping isn't just because of the end of a band, it's difficult to tell if Kijak really understands that.

It's 1987 in Denver, far from the Manchester where the Smiths originated, but the news of the group's breakup hits Cleo (Helena Howard) and her friends especially hard, nonetheless. Cleo screams when the story appears on television. She cries while driving to the local record store, with her car covered in bumper stickers for the band. Upon arriving at the store, she splays herself across the Smiths albums in the rack.

We get it—this sadness about the end of an era, this emptiness of realizing there will be no be new things coming from a beloved artist or group of them, this uncertainty if anything will fill that void. It's a sympathetic idea, surely shared by almost everyone at some point in their youth or beyond.

It most notably happened to Beatles fans, for sure, and to Nirvana fans decades later. If either of those influential bands pop into one's head while watching this movie, the thought is almost certain to undermine the premise of this story a bit. John Lennon's murder would put a definitive end on the ideal of the Beatles, and the tragedy of Kurt Cobain added an entirely deeper layer of grief. Fans of the Smiths got to grow up to see front man Morrissey do whatever the hell it is he's doing with his political beliefs.

Morrissey and the other members of the band feature prominently in this story, not only through the Smiths' music (which is almost a constant on the soundtrack), but also through footage of interviews with them, as they offer soundbites about the band's history and the importance of their music. In theory, that's what the characters in the movie should be doing, but they're too busy being sad to say anything of any real significance.

The main plot, such as it is, is split in two. One through line follows Cleo and a group of her friends as they travel the city, listening to the Smiths on the radio, loitering in parking lots and on the street, and attending a couple of parties.

The other involves Dean (Ellar Coltrane), who works at the record store from which Cleo regularly shoplifts, and his big plan to honor the Smiths. He arrives at a local radio station, devoted to heavy metal, with a pistol. Dean takes the DJ "Full Metal" Mickey (Joe Manganiello) hostage, forcing the metal-head to go through the Smiths' oeuvre.

All of that second storyline comes from a semi-real tale—"inspired by true intentions," as some opening text says. A real Smiths fan did plan to take over a radio station but, apparently, gave himself up before following through on that idea.

Kijak's speculation of what could have happened, had this failed minor event of musical history actually occurred, is kind of engaging. The proto-emo guy and the heavy metal devotee chat, gradually commiserate about music and life, and slowly come to a mutual understanding. It may be broad, overly simplified, and cloyingly sentimental, but Kijak has something to say about music—its surface-level ends and its innate, personal timelessness—in these scenes. Manganiello is quite good, too, as the tough guy with a hidden heart of kindness, pain, and wisdom.

It's the other through line that doesn't go anywhere—starting with superficial angst and adding level upon level to it, without digging into the layers. Cleo's friends are Sheila (Elena Kampouris), Patrick (James Bloor), and Billy (Nick Krause). Sheila and Patrick are dating, even though separate colleges are between them, and Billy is about to join the Army.

They all have issues, involving uncertain futures and uncaring parents and, in the case of the two guys, their sexuality. The night on the town reveals all of these, lets the characters have a talk or two about them, and just leaves it all hanging—except for Cleo, whose life suddenly seems fine as soon as a guy makes a big, romantic gesture.

The lack of a real resolution is kind of the point of Shoplifters of the World. The absence of any real characterization or idea that doesn't, in some way, have to do with the Smiths is its downfall.

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