Confessions of a Self-Obsessed Connoisseur

Rating: 7/10 (19 January 2012)

John Cusack routinely breaks the fourth wall in this portrayal of a sad sack record store owner going through a flustering mid-life crisis. Eccentric and clever at times, he's also a bit of a selfish, standoffish prick and that duality, combined with a stern lack of motivation to do something with himself, has long wreaked havoc with his love life. Very funny at moments and stretched thin at others, it's a wordy dissection of Generation X's slow, sad loss of touch with their adolescence and the lies we tell ourselves and our loved ones. Though angled and multi-dimensional, Cusack's character never turns the corner into someone worth rooting for, so his chase after a nearly-lost girlfriend lacks teeth. Good for some bright laughs, it lacks much depth beyond the satisfying validation of identifying a few cherished LPs from your own collection in the background.