Smaller points aside, High Fidelity is delightful.

Rating: Null/10 (23 May 2000)

For those who appreciated the sardonic wit and self-confessional style of Nick Hornby's novel High Fidelity and were concerned when the story was being turned into a Hollywood film, set in Chicago, rest easy. While it seemed to be such a hopelessly British theme: 30-year old man lives his life vicariously through his extensive record collection, thereby disabling himself from adult relationships with women, and so on, director Stephen Frears has created a vivid portrayal of a vinyl fetish subculture, American or British. Some obvious references to Brit-American differences have been changed: thus, Marie who was American (and thereby a bit exotic) in the book, here is black, which makes the line about her looking like Susan Dey `post-Partridge, pre-L.A. Law' somewhat superfluous (one would have thought).
John Cusack, who also co-wrote the script, is absolutely flawless as Rob: shoulders drooping, tired eyes - a perpetual loser/underdog. Joan Cusack is also fabulous, but unfortunately she has far too little screen time. Fun cameos abound, the nicest one being Bruce Springsteen as himself, giving Rob a bit of relationship advice (coming from a guy who's been there, man.).
Generally, the pace of High Fidelity is high and the script is witty. The scriptwriters haven't shied away from the occasional pop nerdy reference (obviously a good thing), but it is just a little bit (no, make that a lot) annoying that Rob refers to Belle and Sebastian's `Seymour Stein' as `something that I can ignore.' Also, Green Day, like The Clash? Come on.
Smaller points aside, High Fidelity is delightful. Rob's talking into the camera to explain his miserable life could have been very annoying (such as Christian Slater in the horrendous Kuffs), but it isn't. Rather, it adds both to the intimacy and the brisk pace of the film. Plus, it makes it easier to fit in Hornby gems into the dialogue, like Rob's declaration of his credo: `Barry and Dick and I agreed a long time ago that what's important is what you like, not what you are like.'