Excellent romantic-comedy about a musical obsessive

Rating: 10/10 (26 May 2014)

I remember reading Nick Hornby's novel 'High Fidelity' and laughing out loud an awful, awful lot. The characters were so well drawn and the comedy was right on the mark. I suppose I saw parts of myself in there I would have to admit. Although admittedly, while I did organise my CD collection alphabetically, I was never tempted to sort it biographically! The story in a nutshell centres on a mid-thirties music geek who slowly accepts his adult responsibilities, while never actually discarding his obsessions. It's obviously great fun for those with certain musical tastes, seeing as it features references to important alternative acts such as The Beta Band and Stereolab, amongst many others.
But what elevates the film higher is, like the book, it has three dimensional characters that are believable and it has a strong romantic-comedy aspect. Like the very best rom-coms its observations about relationships are intelligent and the characters are ones we root for. John Cusack as the main character Rob is in fine form in a role where he is a sympathetic lead, a selfish idiot and an amusing music geek. It's a multi-layered performance. Iben Hjejle as his long suffering girlfriend Laura impresses a lot too. We completely understand why Rob wants her around but it's not hard to see why Laura has serious issues with their relationship. Hjejle, like Cusack, is given quite a lot to work with and her performance also has quite a bit of emotional range. The rest of the cast is very good too with Jack Black playing the ultimate obnoxious music snob, Tim Robbins is equally amusing as the even-tempered neighbour Ian, who briefly has a relationship with Laura much to Rob's horror, while Lisa Bonet and Catherine Zeta-Jones are also on hand as other women who come into Rob's orbit.
Director Stephen Frears and producer Cusack have to be given a lot of credit for adapting Hornby's book to the screen so seamlessly. The novel is set in the UK but the movie is set in America. Some of the references have had to change accordingly but none of the amendments make any difference to the overall impact; in fact it makes it an interesting contrast if anything. My advice is simple - watch the film and read the book. You won't regret either.