Review of High Fidelity (2000) by Adriano B — 15 Dec 2009

I am not one for romantic comedies....you can ask any one of my friends and they will vouch for me. But sometimes there is actually a story so credible and actually very good, I tend to let my contempt for bullcrap romance slide. However, this film is not one of those bullcrap stories. It is something plausible and actually funny. It doesn't rely on pratfalls and celebrity power to toy with the audience and have all the little girlies wet themselves when the dream boy with shellacked hair and the morose girl who plays hard to get decides to give him a go...what crock! High Fidelity is a story of a man going over his past relationships after his longtime girlfriend leaves him. He is an avid music aficionado and lists off top 5's and 10's of everything. Here, there are no sad attempts at getting noticed by girls or annoying friends getting involved in what is clearly none of their business....and no "token black guy." I do realize that Jack Black can qualify as that "annoying friend." But if you watch closely, he the different annoying friend, he is more interested in music.

Based on Nick Hornby's bestseller, the story is great. Music serves as a backdrop for the mood and each song pretty much represents a basic mood in the story, like when a record store employee converts a Green Day fan into a Stiff Little Fingers fan by playing their record. (Before 2000 I would have looked upon this scene with contempt, but after Warning, Green Day deserved this). The acting is phenomenal. They took the best teen star of the 80s and made him grow up. Showing a near continuation of his previous lives from the 80s into a new millennium story. Think of his character from Say Anything still having troubles with relationships. Iben Hjejle is a very attractive love interest and clearly shows her frustration with Cusack throughout the film and instills that it will take a huge change for him to return to her, a fact that most girls have in loving and caring relationships. His two buddies are like those Shakespearian dudes who just provide the comedic relief in a serious situation.

Great soundtrack too. A bevy of hits from many different decades and genres, from classic rock to punk. Cusack's record collection in the film is impressive and the overall talk of music is greatly researched and piled together with great precision. That's one of the reasons why I liked this film so much, being a chronic listmaker myself.