Should Have Gone Straight To Comedy Central

Rating: 5/10 (4 April 2000)

While it was a bit of a lukewarm surprise to actually hear four Drag City recording artists in the movie (note to the unaware: the "demo tape" that the skate punks made was actually real music by a real life established band- Royal Trux- which was a totally unrealistic point in the movie, esp. since the lead singer heard on the "demo tape" happens to be a female), I as a non-fictional music enthusiast felt inadequately stereotyped and somewhat patronized. High Fidelity misses the point in portraying record nerds the same way Hollywood usually misses the point in portraying christians: you can't can't get the real humor and drama out of a picture unless you can fully comprehend the people you are depicting and convince THEM to believe in your story. I was not convinced. This movie did little for me except serve as a strong reminder as to why I prefer mail order to physical record stores: most people who work in record stores are annoying. Beyond that, I thought the acting was standard and the story was completely boring. Buy the soundtrack and wait for the video if you really think you absolutely must suffer through this.