Triumph for Cusack (and Hornby)

Rating: 10/10 (1 April 2000)

John Cusack nailed it. He had the sense not to mess with the written word, the primordial text and the result is brilliant. Sure, it's in Chicago rather than London and I'll quibble a bit about the casting of skeletal Lisa Bonet as Marie, but "High Fidelity" is a pleasure from start to finish. The audience really enjoyed it on opening night, but it is a very literary movie, with a lot of words in it, so it took the crowd a little time to warm up. Of course, I knew all the words, because they were lifted verbatim from the novel.
The balance between Cusack's soliloquies to the camera, the uproarious scenes in Championship Vinyl and the dramatic passages with Laura is handled well by director Frears (though it's hard not to see this as Cusack's picture from top to bottom). This is also a star vehicle for Jack Black, who chews the scenery very effectively. In true obsessive fashion, I may head back for a matinee this weekend to keep the buzz going. Anticipate several more soundtrack releases and strong "word of mouth" box office. If there's any justice (and there just might be) this will bring Nick Hornby's novel to a whole new audience. Maybe Cusack should be handed the reins to "About a Boy" as well (though Hugh Grant's lined up for that one, by all accounts).
This is the "intelligent" date movie of all time. But as someone once said, men had better be careful...High Fidelity contains too many of your secrets!