A sour, bleak film

Rating: Null/10 (8 June 2000)

Please forgive me for writing my review in list form. It seemed highly appropriate, though perhaps a little unoriginal.
The reasons I didn't like `High Fidelity'.
1) Rob is:
a) immature, b) alienated, c) depressed, d) self-destructive, e) passive and f) almost completely aimless.
If you haven't seen the movie, I can tell you that none of these things are played up for comic purposes. He's just a pathetic man living out a pathetic existence.
2) Rob isn't just the main character here, he's the whole movie. He spends roughly half of the film alone, talking to the audience. I don't think I'd want that much one-on-one from any character in any movie, let alone this character (see # 1.)
3) The scenes he did have with other characters almost always fell into one of three categories:
a) Rob lies or is lied to. b) Rob is criticized, or criticizes, or feels hatred towards someone. c) Rob engages in meaningless small talk.
What the film (and Rob's life) lacks is Rob engaging in any meaningful, positive interactions with other people. He's very alienated. This makes the film very bleak and unpleasant. It make it harder to grab us emotionally, and care about Rob.
4) Rob's life (and this movie) lack any sense of urgency or trajectory. Rob is aimless, blowing through life, with few goals. The story drags.

5) I know that people like Rob exist, and that the filmakers did a good, uncompromising job of capturing him, warts and warts (I was going to say `warts and all' but I couldn't figure out what the `all' is.) Nevertheless, it's not enough to be realistic. I wanted to care, to get involved, and I never did. The characters never generated any sympathy and the story never developed any momentum.