It stars Helena Howard, Ellar Coltrane, Elena Kampouris, Nick Krause, James Bloor, Thomas Lennon and Joe Manganiello.

[1] In February 2012, it was announced that Jessica Brown Findlay, James Frecheville, Jeremy Allen White, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Skylar Astin and Zosia Mamet had joined the cast of the film, with Stephen Kijak directing from a screenplay that had written.

[12] Jeannette Catsoulis of the New York Times wrote that the film was "a loving gift to superfans of the English band The Smiths...this sweetly nostalgic look at lost boys and lonely girls feels like it comes straight from the heart.

"[13] Armond White's review in National Review stated: "This is an alternative-rock version of American Graffiti...(the) music's dramatic resonances are, moment to moment, breathtaking";[14] he also wrote: "If The Smiths were the greatest group of the Eighties, this film about American teens' heartfelt response, reveals the most intense longing for personal expression in the history of popular culture.

"[15] Ken Scrudato of BlackBook wrote: "The film is haunted by a kind of inescapable, mournful nostalgia, as it piercingly reminds of the irreversible demise of the sort of weirdo tribalism that once so intensely bound together all those living just beyond the fringes of societal acceptance – a tribalism that has been replaced by the Instagramming of pancakes and the soulless obsession with 60-second TikTok videos about absolutely nothing...these were indeed the songs that saved your life – and Shoplifters of the World rightly and properly celebrates them.