One the most intelligent and funny looks at dating against a backdrop of music

Rating: 9/10 (24 May 2000)

Warning: does contain spoilers
Women, do you ever wonder why a man just can't seem to settle down? Do you ever cringe and shudder when you realize how vacilating men seem to be, and not just a few of them but all of them? Here you are, this beautiful, intelligent career orientated women and you are full of verve and love. And you think you've found the right guy and things are great. But then suddenly, apathy comes knocking on your door and now it seems that you have lost your man. Ever experience that or know how that feels? Well, so does this film.
Has anyone out there ever known someone that seems to be obsessesd with either the world of music or the world of film. I mean the kind of guy where he can tell you not only the name of a song from 1979 but who it was made for or what the flip side of that single was? Or a guy that can list his record collection in chronological order that they were bought? Well this film does know guys like this because they exist here, in this small record store in Chicago.
High Fidelity is one of the most original films to come out of Hollywood in quite some time. It combines the backdrop of music and the foreground of dating and both worlds are hilariously dissected and an honest attempt is given to help us all understand the cataclysmic world of one and the obsessive world of the other, you figure out which world is destined for which.
John Cusack plays Rob. Rob is a small record store owner that specializes in hard to find records, or better yet, records that the fascist staff think is worthy for people to buy. The other two guys that work there are pathetic in their own way. Dick and Barry are complete opposites but one thing that is clear is their love for music. Dick is a shy and submissive man that has many opinions but doesn't give them out as noxiously as Barry. Barry on the other hand, thinks mainstream music is the plague and only music he deams worthy is even permitted to cogitate about in the store. Any modicum, any scent of an artist like Stevie Wonder or Bryan Adams is frowned upon, God only knows what he would be like if Britney Spears was mentioned. These two characters provide much of the comedy in the but it is such an intelligent and original way to do it. It is refreshing to see comedy try something new every once in a while. I am not opposed to films like Road Trip and American Pie ( I actually like them very much ) but once in a while it is cleansing to see Hollywood come out with something original.
The crux of the film is about Rob's inability to stay with one woman. He can always find something wrong with them and this in turn causes him to break up with them or they seem to find him banal and they leave him. From these experience, Rob starts his top five list. This list consists of top five things about everything. Top five records about.. top five songs about... and top five breakups. Laura is his latest break-up and he does not want to give her the pleasure of admitting her to the top five so he goes on telling himself how worthless she really was. But as the film goes on he can't get her out of his head and wants her back badly. Now this is where most films take the course that is subscribed to as Romance 101. This is where scriptwriters set up the love interest, take it away, and then the rest of the film kinetically involves the one party proving to the other party that he is worthy of her. End of story, they live happily ever after. But High Fidelity is different. Laura is different. Laura knows what Rob is like, she has spent the last two years of her life with him and she is not going to come back that easily. And it is here that Rob goes on one of the most honest and complete journeys that I have seen a character go through. Sure he learns about himself and wants to change that, but it is what he learns about himself that is the fascinating part.

" Then I began to realize that they only have one pair of frilly red underwear. The rest is just regular cotton."
Rob begins to learn that the idea of the perfect relationship is just a fantasy, and in fantasies, nothing ever goes wrong. But eventually those fantasies turn into six month relationships and work is actually involved and spontaneous sex on the floor turns into sex on the weekend, on a bed, between the hours of midnight and one in the morning. It's not to say that relationships get stagnant and boring, but they are not sex on a first date either.
High Fidelity is honest, smart and incredibly original and funny in so many ways. But it is the honesty that I enjoyed about the film the most, well, that and Barry. After all, a film that can tell you why men are as mobile as they are and then can end it with a man that apparently has no talent singing his guts out and sounding like Barry White, well it is a treat. Films don't come out like this often and that is because they are smart. Smart is not easy to do in Hollywood.
9 out of 10 ( also look for a hilarious cameo by Tim Robbins )