On my all-time Top Ten list

Rating: 10/10 (30 June 2005)

This is one of those movies that has the potential to change your life. Underneath the humor (of which there is a considerable amount) lies a truly sweet movie about an adult who still needs to grow up. Watching Rob, played charmingly and realistically by John Cusack, mature as he traces his life through music and various romantic entanglements is a joy.
The central message of the movie seems to me to be that relationships take work. Well, duh, you may be saying. But this film illuminates that point, showing each of Rob's formative (or, as he puts it, "All-Time, Desert-Island Top Five") relationships, why they went wrong, and, to a certain degree, how they could have gone right.
Rob's most important relationship is with music--it's his true love, and the film treats it as a character. Given the choice between his girlfriend and his record collection, the viewer is left with no doubt which Rob would choose--music, hands down. This disregard for human feelings that Rob shows throughout much of the movie proves something else: as much as we may like him, Rob's kind of a jerk. It is a testament to the heart of this film, the strength of the story, and the talent of its large, varied cast that "High Fidelity" emerged a thoughtful, funny movie, rather than an annoying pity-party about its main character.
I recommend this movie to everyone.