The Perfect Comedy

Rating: 10/10 (22 August 2005)

Music and movies are like white on rice. It's the perfect blend of sight and sound that can make or break a film. Even when sound wasn't available for pictures, music was still played when people saw them. Movies about music have been produced and music about movies have been recorded. Sometimes, one of these films just stands out...
High Fidelity is a comedy about Rob Gordan (John Cusack), a record store owner/operator who has recently split with his girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjejle) and now is trying to get it all together. The movie opens with her leaving and Rob giving us his top five list of the most painful breakups. At work, his two "employees" Dick (Todd Louiso) and Barry (Jack Black) share his passion for music and to tell people that what to listen to. The top five motif is present throughout the entire movie, giving it a unique take on life. Rob cheated on Laura, borrowed money from Laura and hasn't given it back to her, and caused Laura to have an abortion. He pretty much feels like a jerk, but it all goes away when he finds out that she is living with Ian Raymond (Tim Robbins), his former neighbor known as "Ray".
When Rob realizes that he is miserable from thinking about his breakups from past years, he has an epiphany. If he just confronts each one individually, the pain will go away. To just see that they have moved on so he can move on as well, but the anguish over Laura resonates due to the fact that she keeps coming over to get her stuff. Now Rob must figure out if he should just move or try to make amends with Laura and get back together.
Stephen Frears directs and his style is perfect for the story. Going from flashback to reality to dreamworld and back to reality effortlessly is quite an accomplishment. He takes Nick Hornby's book and makes it into something amazing. Cusack is fantastic as the funny, sometimes self loathing music enthusiast. He narrates just about the entire movie and some of the dialogue he gives us is priceless. Black and Louiso seem to be on opposite ends of the rock and roll spectrum but they come together to appreciate the art of making music even with their sometimes totally different styles. Black is very energetic as the self-proclaimed 'know it all' of rock music and Louiso is the calm, quiet rocker. Even Hjejle and Cusack's sister Joan give great performances. All together the cast did incredibly well.
High Fidelity is one of the funniest and most creative comedies to hit the big screen. It is a perfect movie to just pop in one night and enjoy. It's a great date movie, buddy movie, or anytime movie. This movie will have you making 'top five' list's in no time...