Review by Lars Lindahl (larsattacks@mail.com)
"High Fidelity" (2000) *** (out of four)
Directed by Stephen Frears Written by D.V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, John Cusack, and Scott Michael Rosenberg
Starring John Cusack, Iben Hjejle, Jack Black, Todd Louiso, Lisa Bonet, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lili Taylor, Joan Cusack, Natasha Gregson Wagner, and Tim Robbins
Just look back two years ago at the Coen Brothers' comedic gem The Big Lebowski, change the actors, take away the bowling alley, add a record store, and you've got High Fidelity (or maybe the other way around since Nick Hornby's novel High Fidelity came first). Either way, it's been done before, a trio of losers cracking jokes and complaining about their failed romances, yet it remains consistently funny. Why is this? Maybe because you know your life is much better than this, you know these guys are more pathetic than you are, and you know its ok to laugh at them because they're fictional. Director Stephen Frears, possibly not intentionally, has created a movie that makes you feel good about yourself and even that ostensibly no good uncle who watches television twenty four hours a day. When watching High Fidelity, expect to laugh at someone else's pain, realize what you are laughing at, and then laugh again.
I laughed at Dick (Todd Louiso), the shy, timorous, Steve Buscemi character of Lebowski, who seems to know what he is talking about but either can't put it into words or is harshly rejected by his friends. I laughed at the John Goodman character Barry (Jack Black), an exact replica of the comic bookstore owner on The Simpsons, pudgy, egotistic, and obnoxious at the same time. And I laughed at Rob (John Cusack), the Jeff Bridges type, whom the story revolves around. Rob is the character easiest to relate to, but he is nothing like you at all. He uncontrollably cheats and lies, then is unable to realize why he can not hold onto a woman. And like his other miserable friends, pop music is where he inevitably goes for comfort.
He spends the afternoons at his job quizzing his coworkers with obscure trivia or listening to new music and either deriding it or praising it. Whatever human emotions The Clash, Aretha Franklin, and Bruce Springsteen records hold, Rob and co. grasp them and help fill voids in their social lives. Rob has built an extensive collection in his record store as well as his home and he organizes them depending on what mood he is in. During this confused stage of his life in which the movie focuses on, Rob is trying to cope with numerous rejections over the years by visiting past girlfriends and eventually asking why they dumped him. But these aren't any girlfriends…these girls made the all time top five break ups in the history of Rob (Rob's incessant use of lists show how pop music has played a major role in his life). The plot in three words is: women and music.
The approach director Stephen Frears takes by having the charismatic Rob speak directly to the camera is very effective. It gives High Fidelity a quickly paced, informal structure, adjectives which perfectly parallel Rob's own lifestyle. It also helps open the viewer's eyes as to how annoying Barry is. Jack Black steals the show with a hilariously realistic performance as a total sleaze ball. Just listening to him speak for five minutes makes the audience immediately sympathetic for Rob, who must work with him every day of the week. What Frears does so well is that he makes us feel sorry for Rob while laughing at his misfortunes. John Cusack plays his character convincingly but it is the strong supporting cast, consisting of big stars and character actors, that really defines Rob. Now instead of Rob just talking to the camera, after he explains something, the remaining cast members physically and humorously create what he is trying to say.
The only problem with High Fidelity is that it doesn't end when it should have ended. Instead the movie goes on for a torturous twenty minutes that seem a lot longer than that. Also Bruce Springsteen is completely wasted in a brief cameo halfway through the movie.
High Fidelity is a cheerful, old fashioned comedy with a voluminous soundtrack and as many laughs. I just hope Hollywood keeps creating losers on the big screen, they make everyone look and feel great.
Grade: *** (out of four)
Lars Attacks! A teenager attacks past and present cinema http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/larsattacks
larsattacks@mail.com (c) 2000 Lars Lindahl
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