SLC Punk! - Plot

Plot

The film outlines the daily lives of two punks in Salt Lake City, Utah in the fall of 1985 : Stevo (Matthew Lillard) and his best friend, "Heroin" Bob (Michael A. Goorjian); Stevo narrates the film. The nickname "Heroin" is ironic, as Bob is afraid of needles and actually believes that any drug (with the notable exception of alcohol and cigarettes) is inherently dangerous.

Stevo and Bob go from party to party while living in a dilapidated apartment. They spend much of their time fighting with members of other subcultures, particularly rednecks. Stevo has a casual relationship with a girl named Sandy (Jennifer Lien), while Heroin Bob is in love with Trish (Annabeth Gish), the manager of a head shop, however he is reluctant to ask her to become his girlfriend.

The two of them are shaped by their experiences with their parents. Stevo's parents, now divorced, are former hippies who are proud of their youthful endeavors; however, Stevo is revolted by what he perceives as their "selling out" by becoming affluent Reagan Republicans, which they lamely try to justify. Stevo's grades are excellent, and when his father (Christopher McDonald) - a lawyer with a Porsche and a penchant for younger women - sends an application to Harvard Law School and Stevo is accepted, he nevertheless rejects it because of his beliefs. By contrast, Bob's father is a paranoid, drunken wreck who mistakes his son and his friend for Central Intelligence Agency operatives, and chases them away with a shotgun when they visit him on his birthday.

Stevo begins to see the drawbacks of living the punk life. Sean (Devon Sawa), a fellow punk, is a drug dealer who once attempts to stab his mother while under the influence of acid, before being taken away by the police; Stevo later finds him panhandling on the streets. While he understands that his relationship with Sandy is casual, he's still enraged when he discovers her having sex with another man, and savagely beats him, later loathing himself because his action contradicts his own belief in anarchism. His social circle begins to drift away, as Mike (Jason Segel) leaves Salt Lake City to attend the University of Notre Dame. Stevo falls in love with a young rich girl named Brandy (Summer Phoenix), who points out that his anarchic clothing and attitude are more of a fashion choice than an actual political philosophy. Rather than being offended, Stevo takes the criticism thoughtfully and they passionately kiss.

At the same party, Heroin Bob complains of a headache (induced by Spandau Ballet's "She Loved Like Diamond" playing on a stereo), and is given Percodan, which he consumes after being told the pills are simply "vitamins" that will help his headache. The accidental drug overdose kills him in his sleep, seemingly justifying the aversion to chemicals he previously expoused in a diatribe delivered to Stevo. When Stevo discovers that his best friend is dead, he breaks down completely. At the funeral, he appears with a shaved head and changed clothing, and decides that he's done with his punk lifestyle. He decides to go to Harvard, and suggests in the narration that he marries Brandy and she will be the mother of his children. He notes in his closing narration that his youthful self would probably kick his future self's ass, wryly describing himself as ultimately just another poseur.