It oozes non-charm

Rating: Null/10 (2 April 2000)

This adaptation of Nick Hornby's novel about the owner of a hipster vinyl store who won't grow up doesn't provoke laughs. It doesn't earn smiles, or good will, either. It just sits there implacably on the screen as John Cusack, playing Rob, the owner of Championship Vinyl, talks into the camera about his problems with women. The director, Stephen Frears, has wandered away from his talent. In movies like PRICK UP YOUR EARS and THE HIT he had a stinging, perfectly poised sureness. Here, everything--the casting, the inside jokes, the endless narration--feels horribly wrong. The only admirable moment in the whole fiasco comes near the end, when Rob's hyper-sarcastic store clerk (Jack Black) bursts out into an acutely sincere rendition of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On." Even the usually deadly charming Cusack feels miscast. The message--get married and get a real job already, you gen-x losers!--and the air of defeated pseudo-comedy may make you want to slink out the back of the theatre.