No conflict

Rating: 4/10 (11 December 2000)

It's a cop-out, and it has no dramatic structure. John Cusack plays Rob, the unappealing protagonist who owns a record store and loses his girlfriend to his own apathy and fear of commitment; he maybe is too believable in the role, and I ended up resenting him almost as much as his girlfriend must have. By the time the ending rolled around, I was left with no one to root for, and no conflict to resolve except the non-dramatic one in Rob's head. (The film, incidentally, starts over about three quarters of the way through, stranding the viewer in Rob's neuroses -- how much fun is that?) There are a lot of likeable moments, especially when Joan Cusack is on-screen, but there's nothing to hold you, unless you identify with the protagonist -- which a lot of guys must. It's also dismaying to hear the screenwriters name-checking bands from Serge Gainsbourg to Stiff Little Fingers. It goes far beyond demonstrating the characters' erudition. It's there to divide the audience into the hip and unhip: "street cred." 4/10