Didn't keep me interested

Rating: 4/10 (24 June 2015)

Here we have a British/American movie from 15 years ago, which runs for roughly 110 minutes. It is directed by Stephen Frears ("The Queen"), who also made the wonderful "Philomena" a while ago, but somehow his effort here did not appeal to me very much. One major reason may be John Cusack. He seems a likable fellow, but as an actor I just don't think he is particularly talented. When he was very young, in his early 20s or so, I remember people thought he would be a real superstar one day, but not really. This film was made in 2000, but somehow, maybe also because of Cusack, it comes off as a lot older to me, maybe because all of the references about music, mostly older music. Another thing that did not appeal to me was Jack Black's character. He came off as extremely unlikeable and I totally cannot see why the main character would want to be his friend. He seems arrogant, self-righteous and totally looks down on everybody around him. And the worst: We are even supposed to like him with his performance near the end. Louiso's character on the other hand was the exact opposite: shy and not confident at all and it was nice to see him get a girlfriend.
Another thing that did not appeal to me at all was Cusack's character constantly breaking the fourth wall here. I am generally not a fan of this technique, but here it became fairly annoying really. I mean he always gives off this vibe that we totally want to know what was going on with his relationships and the people in his life, but honestly I found all the characters in this movie so dull and unappealing for the most part that I just wasn't interested at all. The performances were pretty forgettable too, especially Black's, but I guess it's not really his fault as he was written that way probably. It just did not fit in my opinion. The central female character is played by Iben Hjejle and her portrayal also wasn't memorable at all. There's a reason why her Hollywood movie times have been a thing of the past for a long time now. I found this a very forgettable effort from everybody involved. Not recommended, unless you really are a huge music geek. Then all those references about records and songs will maybe make it bearable for you. But everybody who isn't should better stay away.