FM is kind of silly and broad... the characters are two-dimensional weirdos out of a TV sitcom, and the plot feels paint-by-numbers. Despite this, the movie is quite charming and for me, poignant, because it manages to capture something about the now-departed era when rock music and FM radio were a cultural force to be reckoned with. In a time when music listeners are far more likely to be isolated in their iPod headphones, it's somewhat painful to realize what has been lost in music in terms of the communal listening experience that a locally-run, idiosyncratic radio station provided. When the plot briefly passes through the Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard --- now as lost to the ages as the library at Alexandria --- you are confronted with the fact that the entire culture of rock n' roll that many of us grew up with at the center of our lives -- radio, record stores, and arena concerts -- is essentially a thing of the past. Even though this isn't a great movie, it does a great job of taking you back in time to that era.The soundtrack is pretty middle of the road, but it's good to hear songs that the years have ground into mush briefly re-contextualized into their natural habitat. I can't think of a better way to hear a lot of late 70's radio fodder ("Baby Come Back"; Billy Joel) than within the confines of this movie.

Torpid comedy about radio disc-jockeys banding together to prevent the hostile takeover of their station by corporate suits is a would-be free-for-all, mired in a rabble-rousing rut. The trouble with these kind of plots, where the good guys are goofy rebels and the bad guys are smarmy jerks in ties, is that the screenwriters have to give us something to go on in the way of character development--and most don't have the energy. "FM" is all a contrivance; we're automatically supposed to be charmed by the hard-working DJs and hiss the big business bullies. I didn't particularly find the wacky DJs charming, and the live concerts with Tom Petty, Linda Ronstadt and Jimmy Buffett are nothing special, either (they have nothing to do with the story anyway). The film might appeal to fans of the TV sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati" (which may have been inspired by this mess), but others should find comfort in a different station. * from ****

A film with a great soundtrack of the late 70's rock era although it belies the lyrics from the title song where Steely Dan sings about setting the mood for getting it on with a girl with funk and reggae because there is no funk or reggae in the movie. The film has a simple premise in the radio station staff rebels over the commercialization of what is a commercialized business to begin with. This is not a public or college station but regular commercial station but they take on the corporate world in a strike against the stations plans to be top 40 rock rather than free-form album rock with non-stop music and enlist their listeners help in their fight against the man. Despite this most of the songs in the movie aren't deep album cut album rock but mostly top 40 rock single releases. It does feature a great soundtrack in music by Steely Dan, The Eagles, Boston, Steve Miller, Boz Scaggs, Tom Petty, Bob Seger, Joe Walsh, The Doobie Brothers, Queen, Billy Joel, Walter Egan, Foreigner, Reo Speedwagon, and concert footage of Jimmy Buffett and Linda Ronstadt. A good cast which includes Eileen Brenna, Martin Mull, Clevon Little, Michael Brandon, Alex Karas and James Keach. There are some moments of good satirical comedy but kind of weak as a story but that's OK because it's fun ride in a rambling sort of way. David Myers is the film's cinematographer who compiled quite a resume in the 70's in music films and documentaries photographing Woodstock, Mads Dogs & Englishmen, The Grateful Dead, Soul to soul, Wattstax, Elvis on Tour and Renaldo & Clara. John Alonzo directs in his first and only theatrical film. He did go on to direct a couple of made-for TV movies but he had been a cinematographer and returned to photographing films. He had been a cinematographer on such films as Vanishing Point, Harold & Maude, sounder, Lady Sings the Blues and Chinatown and continued filming up until his death with such films as Scarface, Star Trek: Generations, Steel Magnolias and Cool World. although not a great film, this movie is worth a look. It debuted on screens in the spring of 1978 and is a great snapshot and soundtrack of the late 70's rock radio. I would give it a 7.0 out of 10.

Bottom line: FM was a mediocre movie with a great soundtrack. I enjoyed all of the concert footage in the film (mostly Linda Ronstadt and Jimmy Buffet), but the comedy wasn't good, and the story was just plain awful.You've probably already read the synopsis so I'll spare you the details. The setting and situation were ripe for big laughs, but they never came. In fact, WKRP (which was being created at the same time as the movie FM) made much better comedy from virtually the same raw material.As for the premise, I found it patently hypocritical that FM station employees would be so offended at the idea of commercializing their station with ads, when that's in fact exactly what they do for a living. Radio exists because it sells records and concerts. It is by nature a commercial enterprise. DJs are the basically used car salesmen of the recording industry.Now I don't think there's anything wrong with this arrangement. In fact, I think it's a great deal for the radio audience; we get to sample the songs, and even fall in love with them before we decide to buy the recording.But the holier-than-thou attitude displayed in this movie is very disappointing. At one point in the film, Tom Petty (whom I love) is brought into the booth to be interviewed by the DJ while they play tracks from his latest album, "Damn the Torpedoes." Meanwhile, the station manager is trying his hardest to prevent commercials from airing on "his" radio station.I wanted to shout, "Hey, dude! There's a commercial for Tom Petty's album playing on your station right now! Hello! Kids are going to pay $10 for the record and Tom's going to get $1. The rest goes to some giant recording industry mega-corp." Basically, the screenwriters wrote the DJ's as self-indulgent children, the station manager as a self-centered prick, and the owners as pure evil assholes. This made it hard for me to root for anyone.The movie would have been sharper if the screenwriters had made the station manager more reasonable to contrast with the owners. Instead of objecting to all advertising, for example, the manager could have told the owners he was willing to do 20% more ads at 10% higher rates. Then have the owners shoot back at him with something like "you'll do it our way or you're out on your ass." Then I would have rooted for the station manager a lot more.Of course, I would have forgiven any flaws in the premise if the movie had just been funnier.By the way, if you want to read a contemporary review, there still one available at the NY Times website written by veteran critic Jane Maslin (http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=16493).