A mixed bag of slacker comedy, dour romance and too much talking to the camera

Rating: 3/10 (8 April 2000)

This slacker comedy has a great half hour mixed into a much longer film. The slacker scenes in the record store (esp. the fantasy sequences)are hilarious and the cameos are excellent. Stepping back into the older "Say Anything/Better Off Dead" mode was a smart move by Cusack who combines comedic pathos with manic energy. However the half hour or so that John spends talking to the camera is way overkill and no one in the packed theater I went to was amused by any of it. The plot is also muddled and teeters out at the end. Jack Black was OK-but unlike professional reviewers us average normal folk know people just like his character in real life and thus are fully aware that his character is not as endearing and humorous as Hollywood seems to believe.