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High Fidelity Customer Reviews (4 - 6 of 81 Reviews)

"Which Came First: The Music or the Misery?"
John Cusack stars in "High Fidelity", an Americanized adaption of the book by British author Nick Hornby. It's funny, it's thoughtful, and its music to my ears.

In a dingy part of Chicago, in a record store called "Championship Vinyl", three men are at work. Well, they would be if there was any regular business. There's Dick (Todd Louiso) - a quiet, sensitive, awkward guy. There's Barry (Jack Black) a kooky in-your-face audiophile who dreams of starting a band. Then there's Rob (John Cusack), the owner of the store, the most thoughtful of the bunch. Just as well he's thoughtful, he's got a lot to think about. Just recently, his girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjejle) broke up with him. Why does this keep happening, Rob thinks to himself. Determined to find out, he sets out to find the women of his top 5 most painful breakups list. When he finds them, he'll ask them what he's doing wrong. While he does, there's lots of music, snobbery, shoplifting, philosophizing and heartbreak on the way.

Though I haven't read the book yet, I thought the characters were very well cast. Director Stephen Frears commented that the scenes in the record store were the easiest to film, and it shows. There's a lot of chemistry in there between level headed Cusack, nervy Lousio and manic Black. The secondary characters seem to love their parts too, and are just as complex and relevant. The locations too, capture the muso vibe really well, I thought.

Being a bit of a hardcore music fan, I couldn't help getting excited over little references to bands, either in the dialogue or in the background. "Look, there's King Crimson's Discipline LP", "Hear that, that's a Smog song in the background.", etc. Pretty sad, I know, but finding little things like that was fun for me. Just wish the characters had music taste a little similar to mine. Ah well.

Special features include a set of bite sized featurettes from director and actor/screenwriter John Cusack discussing various aspects of the film and its adaption, along with a selection of deleted scenes. All very interesting.

Though its not exactly in my top 5 films of all time, it's still pretty good.

So, Are You In, or Out?
If you're a single, 30-something guy with a healthy past of screwed up relationships and a song for every experience in your life, then 'High Fidelity' just might make your top 5 list of 'this movie is about me' movies.

I grugingly call this one a 'romantic comedy' because it's made for men to identify with. Jack Black keeps it fun and Cusack keeps it real by saying and doing what most men do when hearts are trampled upon. It's about anger, misery, screaming in the rain and always wondering why.



A romantic comedy you can watch again and again
Nick Hornby lays bare many of the single man's worst flaws, and gets to the truth of dating in a way that few other novelists can hope to do. This film adaptation takes the story from London to Chicago but stays true to the basic premise of the story. John Cusack is as fantastic as ever; ladies who fell for him back in the '80s will swoon again. Jack Black plays things way over the top, but he's wonderful. The soundtrack is great. Watch for the Bruce Springsteen cameo.

This is a romantic comedy that stands up to repeat viewings. Like "When Harry Met Sally," it just rings true. The characters are flawed but not so flawed that we can't love watching them fall in love.

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