Not as good as I thought it was gonna be

Rating: 8/10 (29 August 2000)

"The movie ain't about geography", or so I read in an interview with Nick Hornby recently, commenting about how the movie version of his book has been transposed from London to Chicago. There were cries of "it won't be the same!", but High Fidelity does not suffer at all in the transition to the backwaters of this particular American city.
High Fidelity is primarily about Rob (John Cusack), a music fanatic and record store owner who embarks on a spiritual journey to find out from his five former loves what exactly it is about him that precludes a long lasting and meaningful relationship.
We are introduced to these former flames via the movies use of "Top 5" lists - in this case the "Top 5 All Time Rejection List". The pursuit of the entries on this list forms the backbone of the movie, against which the characters interact.
The other main players are the introverted and extroverted pair of fellow record store employees, Dick (Todd Louiso) and Barry (Jack Black). Both are great foils for Rob, to me portraying the alternating sides of Rob's personality. On the one side is his desire to be a a popular ladies man, and on the other side is his quiet nature, spending time cataloguing his record collection and making complilation tapes for friends.
High Fidelity uses the technique of having the main character Rob talk directly to the audience. This is not only used, it is used a *lot*. If you don't like that sort of address straight to the audience, you will not like High Fidelity. Most of the time it works, but after a while you just want him to shut the hell up.
The soundtrack of course is a standout, trawling the 60s thru 80s for its gems. Well worth a listen.
I was a little disappointed with this movie. It didn't seem to "click" as much as I thought it would and should have. Cusack is probably a bit miscast; too much of the trademark Cusack pauses and pouty lips get in the way of good characterisation. Having said that it was still good entertainment, although it was perhaps about 20 minutes too long. The end part with the band CD premiere and the tacky "store employee in supposedly crappy band turns out to be really good after all" bits did break the flow and appeared tacked on.
Good entertainment helped by a great soundtrack and solid support performances.
7 out of 10.