High Fidelity tells the story about Rob (John Cusack), a record store owner and compulsive list maker who recounts his top 5 break-ups of all time after his lover at the time, Laura (Iben Hjejle) leaves him. He recalls his each previous lover, and meets up with them again to find out why they dumped him. Most of the movie plays out in Rob’s record store where him and his 2 co-workers live and breathe contemporary music. I don’t want to spoil too much of the film, but it’s a “Must See”. I found it to be a unique perspective on relationships. John Cusack also does a brilliant job with the narration in the movie. The movie is based on the book by Nick Hornby. I found this film thoroughly enjoyable. John Cusack was brilliant in his role as Rob. Jack Black portrayed Barry, a record store employee in the movie. This probably was the first movie I ever saw with Jack Black in it. The movie was directed by Stephen Frears, who also directed Dangerous Liasons in 1988.
There really are some classic lines in this movie. The dialogue on its own makes this movie worthy of being dubbed the movie of the week on this blog. Here are some quotes from the movie:
Rob (John Cusack): “What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?”
Barry (Jack Black): “Rob, top five musical crimes perpetuated by Stevie Wonder in the ’80s and ’90s. Go. Sub-question: is it in fact unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins, is it better to burn out or fade away?”
Barry’s Customer (Rich Talarico): “Hi, do you have the song “I Just Called To Say I Love You?” It’s for my daughter’s birthday.”
Barry (Jack Black): “Yea we have it.”
Barry’s Customer (Rich Talarico): “Great, Great, can I have it?”
Barry (Jack Black): “No, no, you can’t.”
Barry’s Customer (Rich Talarico): “Why not?”
Barry (Jack Black): “Well, it’s sentimental tacky crap. Do we look like the kind of store that sells I Just Called to Say I Love You? Go to the mall.”
Rob (John Cusack): “The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don’t wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules. Anyway… I’ve started to make a tape… in my head… for Laura. Full of stuff she likes. Full of stuff that make her happy. For the first time I can sort of see how that is done.”
Rob (John Cusack): “It made sense to pool our collective loathing for the opposite sex, and while we were at it, you get to share a bed with somebody at the same time. We were frightened of being left alone for the rest of our lives. Only people of a certain disposition are frightened of being alone for the rest of their lives at the age of 26, and we were of that disposition.”
This is the trailer for the movie:
Related Links & Posts:
High Fidelity (2000) – Internet Movie Database
High Fidelity – Wikipedia
High Fidelity – AllMovie
High Fidelity – RottenTomatoes
I love this movie! I worked in a record store for years, and a lot of this rings true. The book is well worth reading too.