Thoroughly satisfying

Rating: 9/10 (23 April 2000)

As I browsed through the comment posted on IMDb about this movie, it occurred to me that many of the people commenting are quite as fierce in their views about movies as the record store guys are about records.
First off, as I was born before WWII got under way, the musical references throughout the movie meant absolutely nothing to me. That's a statement of fact, not a criticism. I was able to just enjoy the movie, without having to bother my head about the technical musical stuff.
The movie certainly passed my threshold test of any movie - whether it induces suspension of disbelief. The characters were thoroughly credible, and the story line held my attention all the way.
The characters were all beautifully drawn and likeable. I found the Charlie character interesting. She's more stunning than anybody has a right to be. Us guys just have no defences against anybody that gorgeous. We just want to throw ourselves at her feet. So it was very satisfying to see that she's just a gorgeous but shallow facade after all. Serves her right! I also liked the subtly steely undertone in the Laura character.
The Barry character was masterfully drawn. Mr. Relentlessly Knowledgeable himself!
I thought that the looking-into-the-camera bits were done just right. I gave a little groan when this first happened in the movie, because those bits don't usually go down right for me. Even a voice-over narration such as Spacey's in American Beauty (a much-overrated movie, by the way) doesn't usually work for me. But here I found those bits just right, fitting in well with the overall consciously self-conscious nature of the record store gang. And what a nice thing to say about anybody, as Rob did, that the second best thing he liked about Laura was that she had character, because when she was having a bad day she didn't take it out on the people around her! If somebody were to say that about me, I'd marry her on the spot!
If I have one criticism of the movie, it's that it drags just a tad towards the end. The bits after the funeral of Laura's father weren't really necessary. They added nothing to the story or the characters, except for the surprise about Barrie's stage presence - and I'm not sure I find that aspect of Barrie's character plausible. (Can you be a relentlessly knowledgeable self-centered vinyl geek and also a performer who has the gift of sharing himself with an audience? I think not.) I think the pacing of the movie would have been better if Rob's realisation that he loved Laura had followed smartly after the affectionate sex-in-the-Saab scene.
All in all, a thoroughly satisfying movie - nicely scripted and nicely played.
BTW, I think it's grand that IMDb has a spell checker for these postings. I get thoroughly annoyed every time I read mis-spelled rants on the web, and Lord knows there are enough of those. If we're going to rant, let's at least rant literately!
And hey - even a new window for the list of mis-spellings, so that we can easily flip back and forth between our mis-spellings and our text. I'm impressed!