High Fidelity

Starring: John Cusack
Director: Stephen Frears
Genre: Comedy
Year: 2000
Rating: 3 / 5

Reviewed by Guest Scribe Jules

This is not Hollywood's average, glossy, Meg Ryan-style love story. The characters in High Fidelity come across as real people: weird, multi-dimensional, sarcastic, at times funny, and at times mean. They are the fuel behind the success of this movie, and though at times the story rambles, High Fidelity showcases a great many memorable scenes with inspired performances. Despite the star power of John Cusack and his talented sister, and some more-or-less dazzling cameos by Catherine Zeta-Jones, Tim Robbins, and former sitcom stars Lisa Bonet and Sara Gilbert, relative unknowns Todd Louiso and Jack Black steal the show as Dick and Barry. These two combine with leader and record store owner Rob Gordon (Cusack) to form a comic trio in the realistic vein of Swingers or Clerks. Gordon explains the relationship best - I hired these guys two years ago to work a couple days a week, and they just kept showing up every day. Now I can't get rid of them.

The question is, does he really want to? Barry (Jack Black) exhibits a cutting personality and a penchant for list-making to rival our own Julio, going as far as listing "Top Five Songs to Have at Your Funeral." Dick (Todd Louiso), Rob's other unrequested sidekick, is as shy as Barry is brash, but exhibits equally quirky behavior. The customers get the raw end of the deal, always as the subject of their disdain and their pranks.

At its heart, the story deals with Rob Gordon's trials and tribulations with the opposite sex. After his long-time girlfriend (Iben Hjejle) leaves him, he embarks on a journey through his top five break-ups of all time, trying to figure out why his relationships all have the same outcome. Along the way - the long and winding road, as the Beatles would say - he discovers quite a bit about himself and others, and what really happened. As memory is examined, myth is replaced by reality, and by understanding. Though some important things are discovered, this movie never diverges from being thoroughly odd, driven by its dynamic and bizarre characters.

Certification: Rated R for language.
Running Time: 113 minutes.

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