Customer Reviews

High Fidelity

5 star:		(104)
4 star:		(56)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

Either the world is getting weirder or I'm finally starting to recede toward normality, as High Fidelity actually plays at a level I can relate to. Now, there's no shortage of films like this - man enters 30s and has to finally grow up, doesn't have a clue about love or life, and tries to figure everything out and get his girl back in the process. Surprisingly, most of these films are pretty good. High Fidelity is excellent. It has a compelling, human, believable story, lots of comedy (much of it high-brow disguised as common), a great cast, and all kinds of great music that could really be described as a passable soundtrack to life itself.

John Cusack plays Rob Gordon, a pretty normal guy who happens to be living in an emotional bubble - and it has just burst. His girlfriend of the past two years, Laura (Iben Hjejle) has just left him, triggering a sort of early midlife crisis in his life. Rob doesn't like change. He runs a record shop with the help of two guys even weirder than he is - Dick (Todd Louiso), a shy, bumbling, Moby-like guy and Barry (Jack Black), who never fails to entertain. The guys like to expound upon their musical knowledge, usually in the form of top five lists of everything. Rob has top five lists for everything, including his most traumatic breakups. He tries to pretend that his recent breakup with Laura isn't top five material, although it obviously is - especially when he learns she seems to have left him for Ian (Tim Robbins), the schmaltzy pseudo-loverboy upstairs. He simply must know why Laura dumped him, and that sends him down memory lane thinking about all of the other girls that dumped him through the years - going all the way back to junior high. Seeing some of these women again, including a beautiful yet shallow ex-flame played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, he gets a whole new perspective on life. Not completely, though, as he's still tearing his heart out over Laura and engaging in some activities that could be construed as harassing in nature.

For an ex-couple, he and Laura seem to stay in touch a great deal, as she's always coming over to get more of her stuff, calling him on the phone, etc. (For his part, Rob also spends an inordinate amount of time out in the pouring rain.) As time passes, Rob comes to evaluate his real feelings for Laura, even as he hopes to somehow get her back, and comes to know himself a lot better in the process. He never really figures things out, nor does he truly reinvent himself, but he matures. He's going to be OK - no matter how things work out with Laura in the end.

Basically, this is a romantic comedy for guys. For once, guys won't have to sleep through a sappy love story their better halves force them to watch; Rob is sort of speaking for guys as a whole here. There's plenty of dry, witty humor to keep you sustained, much of it supplied by Jack Black, and you might even find yourself wanting to watch the whole film over again. Plus, it features not one but two Bob Dylan tracks, so you know it must have something going for it.

This is a movie about men, their possessions and how they order them. For Rob, it's all about pop music and women. Nothing else, besides the odd film, matters to him. And it's pretty much the same for his two male colleagues at the record shop, who exist at opposite ends of the forcefulness spectrum. They form a self-selected elite who look down on the musical taste of nearly everyone they meet.

But actually their hyper-critical views are pretty close to the mark. It's great to hear someone else noticing and lamenting the 1980s decline of Stevie Wonder, for example. One might criticise author Hornby for selecting Rob's dream job as record producer in the punk era (1976-79) when he could have chosen, say, late 1960s Beach Boys / Beatles psychedelia. But you can never find someone with the identical taste as your own. Strangely, the music is not particularly central to this movie, in the sense that it probably generated fewer album sales for featured artists like Marvin Gaye than say 'The Big Chill'.

The structure of the movie takes a little getting used to. The first time you see it can be a disappointment -- there's no upbeat climactic ending, unless you count the improbable, rather obviously tacked-on, disco/concert by Sonic Death Metal, or whatever they happened to be called at the time. John Cusack's frequent chats to camera seem altogether natural (except when he's sauntering backwards and forwards on some wooden bridge-cum-platform in downtown Chicago).

What I like about this film is that, from a male viewpoint, it rings true so often. Men do behave treacherously, and the behaviour often looks worse at first sight. I like the fact that the actress who played Laura wasn't stunningly attractive. Even Lisa Bonet didn't seem particularly beautiful in the movie. (But yes, that really is Catherine Zeta-Jones discreetly stripping off in a role just before she became famous enough to warrant a major Hollywood film credit.)

This is not the perfect movie, but it contains a message about the male psyche that I hadn't extracted from any other movie, and that revelation in itself is sufficiently uplifting to distract from the artificial attempt by the film to uplift via the back-together-again concert/disco scenario.

Ah yes. Another quirky offbeat romantic comedy from quirky offbeat romantic cynic John Cusack. Life sucks but he wouldn't miss it for the world. Give John Cusack credit. He was 34 when he made this. His character is a guy in his late 20's who has the emotional maturity of a teenager and Cusack pulls it off effortlessly. Cusack's character, Rob, isn't a jerk. He's a manchild. He doesn't mean to be a selfish obsessive boob; he just lacks the normal range of human adult emotions. Imagine the teenager Cusack played in Better Off Dead. Now imagine that teenager ten years later and working as the owner of a independent music store. He's a music snob and puts in long hours at the store but he still has time to ruin promising relationships with childish antics, talk to the screen and stalk former girlfriends while chasing after the next soon to be ex girlfriend. High Fidelty is the unofficial sequel to Better Off Dead. Instead of weird parents and goofy fantasy sequences, we get weird coworkers and morbid sexually and violently charged fantasy sequences involving Tim Robbins. I won't compliment the soundtrack except to say any movie about music had better have a damn good soundtrack and High Fidelity does its job.

After working on my college radio station as a DJ, entertainment news anchor, and Human Resource director, I was told by my friends that I should check this film out as I reminded them a lot of John Cusack's character in it. They were right. I too have had my share of bad relationships and can easily tell you the stories of how it went from "Hello" to "Goodbye" in less than 5 minutes. I have worked in music retail for 2 and a half years and I am also incredibly anal about my own collection of music and every song I can recognize played on the radio I can tell people what it is, who the artists is, what album it appeared on, and whether it is a radio edit, extended version, or remix.

That being said, when I first saw this movie I didn't quite understand many of the points. So I watched it again and realized "My god, I AM Rob Gordon!" Within a month, I purchased the DVD of High Fidelity and the book by Nick Hornby which was incredible. I highly recommend this film to all guys who have had their share of hard-not-to-forget relationships, radio DJs, music retail workers, and lovers of music of all types because the soundtrack, to quote Jack Black "kicks fu**ing a**".

The DVD is great to own. It presents the film in clear colorful matted Widescreen (1.85:1), offers 9 Deleted scenes that appeared in the original screenplay as well as the original novel, short mini conversations with actor John Cusack & director Stephen Frears, and the original theatrical trailer for the film.

Without a doubt, this is a MUST-HAVE for people who love music, have been in tough relationships, and enjoy writing Top 5 Lists.

"Good luck...goodbye...thanks, boss."-Rob Gordon (John Cusack)

this movie nailed it on the head, well for me anyway..from being obsessed with making mix tapes..to not knowing where your life is heading..to troubled realtionships and the struggles that come from it..i think i might be Rob Gordon..which i dont know is a good or bad thing..but i do know i love this movie..
if your a music fan or have spent any time scouring used record shops while your wife or girlfriend is at home pissed because there is no room for anymore records. then you will love and relate to this move...its a true to life love story.. a story of trying to figure out where you screwed up in life..and a very funny comedy.

I consider this the best romantic movie of all time. It's a more modern rendtion of Annie Hall, but it centers around a record store owner and movie geek. The main character classifies everyhing in terms of top fives, and throughout the film, he recounts his top five most damaging breakups. It is made that much more complex by the fact that the entire movie takes place during his most recent top five. It features the breakout performance of Tenacious D lead, Jack Black, and it is still his best performance. We witness some of the best directing of all time as we are put into the mindset of John Cusack's character, Rob. As much as we like the guy and sympathize with him, we also experience his self-loathing(that is we dislike things about him, not ourselves, but we also see a bit of ourselves in him. this could be due to the fact that so many writers worked on it.).

This truly brilliant film offers a new intimate look into the world of dating and music. Not in my top five, but definitely in my top ten. FIVE STARS.

This is a funny movie about a guy named Rob Gordon (John Cusack) who is going through a crisis in which he does not know why all of his relationships have failed. He owns a record store in Chicago that is set in the backstreets where not many people find it, so he is having trouble with business. His friends are Barry (Jack Black), who is snobby and won't allow customers to buy "crap" music and does not sell records to people he does not like, and Dick (Todd Louiso), who is the more quiet of the two who does not try hard. He is upset over the recent breakup with his 2 year girlfriend Laura (Iben Hiejle) and meats with former girlfriends to find out what his problem is with love. Catherine Zeta Jones plays one of his former girlfriends. Rob makes many asides to the audience that are hilarious, and the movie is worth watching. It also has a great soundtrack.

This movie is very sad.The poor guy crys about his woman leaving him moaning to the audience about how cool she is,gets her back,then cheats on her.This guy is so whipped it awful.she treats him like a yo-yo and his mommas boy ass keeps taking it like a punk.This is not my idea of a romantic film.

Right now this movie is defining my life. I'm only 18, yet I'm a music snob who is getting over a breakup with a girl (we dated for over a year), and this film is giving me solace.

Despite its lack of special effects or cinematic extravagence, this movie is very profound and very high on discovering yourself. John Cusack played the role of Rob Gordon perfectly, using music to cope with his pain, while discovering what he did wrong in his past relationships, a very courageous thing. The music fit the movie very well (everything from Springsteen to Stereolab is included here), and Jack Black and Todd Louiso's role as Rob's co-workers were acted and written in perfectly. The plot itself is defining my life since my girlfriend recently left me and is interested in some other guy who has the same complex that Ian Raymond (played hilariously by Tim Robbins) does in the movie. This is the perfect romantic breakup movie, especially if you love music. Even if you don't know a thing about Captain beefheart's "Safe as Milk" or obscure punk bands like the Stiff Little Fingers, this movie is definitely enjoyable.

Two years ago i had the most depressing birthday ever. The day itself isnt important but lets just say that i turned 17 and was alone and miserable. But instead of doing the stereotypical suicide thing i decided to go buy a dvd instead. The film i bought was High Fidelity, and after watching it i didnt feel so bad anymore, hence it saved my birthday.
this film is the ultimate in feel good cinema, with a hilarious turns by jack black and john cusack. the soundtrack is great and the script is excellent. quite simply this film is essential.
so if you are sitting there by your computer at 3 in the morning in your pants eating cereal surrounded by wadded tissues at the moment, while thinking of ending it all, dont. wait till the next day and then rent this gem of a film. i promise you'll be smiling at the end.