High Fidelity

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Why was High Fidelity so good? That's the question that has been going through my mind ever since I saw it. There really wasn't anyone spectacular involved with it. I mean, it's not like Tom Hanks was in it or Steven Spielberg directed it. But somehow, it ended up being just a great comedy. High Fidelity just had a really entertaining story, and it was extremely well acted by everyone involved. This is what I have come up with in my mission to find out what it was about High Fidelity that made me like it so much. Sure, there's not a whole lot to the story – a guy gets dumped and goes back and recounts his relationships and break-ups with his top five girlfriends, but it was presented in such a clever way that it made bland material a lot of fun. One of the things that was really good about High Fidelity was the way the `top five girlfriends' premise was complemented by Rob Gordon (Cusack) and his music geek friends coming up with countless top five lists. Top five dream jobs, top five first songs on music albums, top five this, top five that. Anyone who is into top five lists or top ten lists will probably love High Fidelity just for that small part of it. Speaking of Gordon's music geek friends, the person who really stole the show was Jack Black, as Barry, one of Gordon's employees at the record store that he owns in the film. This is particularly notable given the variety of unenviable roles that Black has played, such as those in Cable Guy and, more recently, The Jackal. The hilarious music discussion scenes that take place in the record store are probably the best scenes in the film, and Black steals nearly every one of them. Almost as amusing as Black was Todd Louiso, playing the part of Dick, another employee at Gordon's record store. Dick is a very soft-spoken music fanatic who is probably so entertaining because we've known someone like him. In fact, that's what is so appealing about Gordon and Barry, too. They are a cross-section of music fans in the urban world and they provide many more laughs because of their familiarity. A number of well-known actors also played relatively small roles in High Fidelity, such as Catherine Zeta-Jones, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Joan Cusack, and, of course, Tim Robbins as the antagonistic ‘new boyfriend.' One of the really good things about High Fidelity is that it eventually delivers a good message about stepping up and actually doing something with your life. It warns of the dangers of getting too comfortable doing one thing, and of giving in to the temptation of hopping from relationship to brief relationship. At the end, Rob begins to realize the mistakes that he made in his relationship with Laura, and these are mistakes that I think a lot of people have made and continue to make. High Fidelity is just good comedy. It's fun, it's entertaining, and above all, it's refreshing because of it's relative originality. There are plenty of memorable scenes in the film, many because of their sheer, if illogical, hilarity. Some of the customers who come into the record store are treated much worse than they would ever be treated in real life, but the laughs are delivered. Don't miss this one.

I think this was Jack Black's breakout role. When you're watching this film 20 years later in a world where Jack Black had his 15 minutes of fame and then some, you pretty much have immunity to Jack Black. So the rest of the film is average at best. The female lead is a cold fish and hurts her surroundings in more ways than should be allowed.

I have no idea what John Cusack was thinking, but his name is plastered all over this disaster: star, producer, writer. If I were him, I'd be afraid for my career: very afraid! Simply put, this story about the past and present romances of Rob Gordon (Cusack) is BORING! I can generally pay attention to any movie, no matter how bad. I desperately look for something nice to say about a movie - even the terrible ones. But this one? I fought, but at least three times I dozed off in the midst of it. It is supposed to be a comedy, and yet not once did even a modest chuckle escape from me; I'm not even sure I ever smiled at the lame attempts at humour. The movie is a little less than 2 hours in length, and yet it felt as if 6 hours had passed by before this thing finally ended. About 2/3 of the way through my wife looked at me and said about Gordon (Cusack): "He's a loser." That sums up the entire movie. 1/10.

This has gotten tons of good reviews on this site, but I wasn't crazy about it . . . this is one of those movies where you can tell that every person involved is convinced that they are very clever and very intelligent, and people will be impressed by the witty, obnoxious things that they say. Pure self-absorption on celluloid. However, I commend the people that made this for knowing a lot about music. I just wish they were willing to learn more about movies.