One of my top 5 romantic comedies

Rating: 8/10 (11 June 2000)

John Cusack is one of my favorite actors, largely because of his effortless portrayals of guys like me. From "Say Anything" to "Bullets Over Broadway" to "Being John Malkovich", he has mastered the portrayal of the over-earnest borderline-obsessive schmuck who thinks too much and does little that is constructive. And as a screenwriter, he impressed me very much with "Grosse Pointe Blank". So I went to see this film with very high expectations. I was not disappointed.
"High Fidelity" struck a particular chord with me because I have never had a relationship with a woman last more than eight months before I get dumped (well, I'm the dumpee at least 90% of the time anyway). But you don't want to know about me, just what I think of the movie.
This movie is a thoroughly funny film about being dumped, and being a slacker (having once lived in the Hyde Park section of Austin, I know all about the latter, too). Cusack plays Rob Gordon, a record store owner in Chicago whose girlfriend Laura has just left him. He spends the film brooding as to why he is always getting dumped by women, usually for other men.
Particularly hilarious are the folk-comedy duo Tenacious D as Cusack's loser employees who spend all their time insulting would-be customers and making top 5 lists. Also worth mentioning is Tim Robbins in a cameo role as Laura's new boyfriend, who instigates one of the funniest scenes in the film.
The film is flawed to a certain degree, Cusack spends more time talking to the camera than to other characters. While I don't mind that device, using it too much is a bit distracting. Also there is the fact that Iben Hjejle as Laura is just plain flat. And the ending is just a little to perfect, happily-ever-after for my taste.
But the pro's of this film drastically outweigh the cons. I rated it an 8 out of 10.