Great movie, better book

Rating: Null/10 (24 January 2001)

When this movie was first released, I avoided seeing it because, having read and LOVED the book, I was sure they wouldn't do it justice. My brother-in-law convinced me to rent it and I'm glad I did.
It really is a great movie, however I still think I would have liked it better had I not already read the book. The problem I had with it is that throughout the book, you get a running stream of conciousness of what's going on in Rob's head. While they tried to recreate this to a point, it was only possible TO A POINT.
Otherwise you would have had Cusak standing in front of the camera talking to the audience for 85% of the film. What brought this home to me was that I watched the movie with my wife who hadn't read the book and she was finding it hard to fully relate to Rob. Eventually I realized, that was because the book does a much better job of letting him provide justification for his actions and attitudes without minimizing his flaws. In the movie, many of his flaws appear to be those of a self-absorbed boor without giving the other side of his character. Having said all that, the movie really is entertaining and the cast is tremendous from top to bottom. And as a record collector myself, I found the soundtrack and discussion of obscure records (even those I've never heard of) very authentic and enjoyable. And as several others have written here, if you have a choice, rent the DVD for the extra scenes and the interviews. Many of the scenes stand alone. My particular favorite is the scene where Rob and Beverly D'Angelo (as Too Tan woman) "reverse-haggle" over her spite sale of her errant husband's record collection. Overall, a solid 4+ out of 5.