An excellent movie that's hip and relates to the times

Rating: Null/10 (18 July 2002)

There isn't much of anything I can say to put down this movie. John Cusack as the lead brings such conviction and style to the role of a "professional appreciator" of music who's just been left by his girlfriend. This lays the foundation for the story: Rob Gordon (John Cusack) looks back at his past and formulates his "Top Five All-Time Breakups" in order to get some answers to why he's doomed to being alone. While he reaches out to his past heart-breakers, he suffers a great deal from not having his recent ex, Laura, around and shows how desperate he is in one scene by standing in the rain outside her new boyfriend's apartment (played very well by none other than Tim Robbins) repeatedly calling just for her to pick up.
However, Rob manages to surprise himself after every visit with his old girlfriends. He discovers that either they're lonelier than he is now and even more desperate to have someone in their lives, or in one case it was him who threw away what would of been something because of his impatience. In addition, when getting together with his ex-lover from college who he always thought was better than him, Catherine-Zeta Jones's character, Rob realizes that she's shallow and narcissistic and probably always was. Feeling great after all of these recent discoveries, Rob finds some clarity of what he wants, and what that is is the comfort and security of being with someone who cares and respects him. His view on relationships and the opposite sex alters; he stops giving into the fantasies and jumping from rock to rock, and decides he wants to settle down into a nice, comfortable reality.
There are many hilarious moments throughout this movie. Rob, who just now I mention is a record store owner, and his two clerks played by Todd Louiso and Jack Black create great chemistry on-screen, usually when Cusack is at Black's throat. One memorable scene that goes down in my "Top Five Comedic Skits" is when the despised Ian (Tim Robbins) enters the record store and confronts Rob about the non-stop phone calls he's been making and Rob trips off into fantasy which involves Louiso knocking Ian's teeth out with a phone and then crashing an air conditioning unit on top of his head...i keeled over laughing. There are many other great scenes that make up this movie which also is glued together with a great soundtrack. My rating: "Two snaps and a twist".