Familiar stuff

Rating: 2/10 (10 December 2001)

Record store owner doesn't so much pine for romance as he does reminisce over his many lost loves. Fun music shop scenes let down by unbearable boy-girl stuff. Smug and indifferent. And haven't we seen this John Cusack performance before? The "Wayne's World" record-album scene between Tia Carrere and Mike Myers was funnier than this entire film, although Jack Black gives it a real kick. I'm still not sure if Black is a carnal impersonator or a honest-to-God actor, but he seems to take great delight in winging it and he's entertaining. If indeed his actions were all scripted, then he's a force to be reckoned with. He can't set the pace for the entire movie however, and the Cusack stuff buries the enterprise under unfunny comedic pathos. *1/2 from ****