Familiar But Hip Chicago Thirtysomethings Romantic Comedy

Rating: 5/10 (12 June 2005)

After breaking up with his girl, thirty-something Rob, the owner of an indie record-store in Chicago, examines his failed relationships and decides that something's got to change.
Based on Nick Hornby's best-selling novel (though the action is relocated from London to Chicago), this is a well-made and sometimes witty love-story/comedy/drama. As ever, Cusack gives the movie all his energy (he also co-scripted and co-produced) and makes the non-committal loafer he plays a likable rogue. The rest of the cast are good too, particularly Louiso and Black as the two music-loving goofs that hang around the store, and there is a nifty cameo by Springsteen, as well as some funny moments and plenty of good songs on the soundtrack. However, the film never really comes to life for me; Cusack plays an identical role in several other movies, the drama is hardly inspiring and the constant direct-to-camera addresses annoy me. I hate direct-to-camera; when adapting a book with a lot of first-person perspective, I find narration much more emotive and much less intrusive. This is an entertaining movie, but it's a movie where nothing really happens and the images are pretty ordinary, and movies shouldn't be that way. I find it ironic that at one point this film pokes fun at The Big Chill for being a staid mid-life crisis drama, but when this movie is as old as that one, it will be equally dated.