Video Review |
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Video Review |
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Last Updated 06/19/02
Email: robitai@our-town.com
“High Fidelity”
“High Fidelity” is a comedy whose clever title plays more than one way. “High fidelity” as in “Hi-Fi” (an antique term the word-bank) applicable because the film’s leading character Rob Gordon (John Cusack) owns a record store. That’s record as in vinyl, not CD. It’s a store whose customers’ discriminating and eclectic tastes are surpassed only by the clerks’ extraordinary expertise in music trivia.
And “high fidelity” in the sense of being faithful, completely faithful in a relationship. Rob Gordon’s had a long history of heartbreaks, and now he’s rejected yet again. Current girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjejle) packed her bags and left for a more sensitive kind of guy (Tom Robbins). A master at rationalization, Rob readily admits former indiscretions of his own, then responds to his heartbreak by having yet another fling.
Now he’s thirty something, alone, and wondering why. In this miserable state of existence, he embarks on a quest for self-discovery. One by one, he revisits the women who’ve made his top-five list of worst break-ups. He soon discovers how twisted his original assumptions have been. Does he learn anything from ridding himself of this psychological dirty-laundry? Is a meaningful relationship of commitment and fidelity finally possible?
This is Cusack’s movie; he’s in almost every scene, playing Rob in a cloud of gentle Woody Allen angst. He’s disarmingly simplistic in his confusion, and so self-absorbed that most of what matters passes him by. Personality flaws pale, however, and he elicits sympathy for his plight. Maybe it’s just that Cusack charm, but in spite of Rob’s whining and boorish behavior, you want a better life for him. The movie frequently uses “asides,” a technique where the actor speaks directly to the audience. The effect here produces a kind of confessional, and we feel like we have a stake in the action.
The combination of characters works well together. Cusack’s real-life sister Joan Cusack has a minor role, and the scenes that pit them together have natural chemistry, especially when she’s screaming obscenities at him.
Jack Black and Todd Louiso play Barry and Dick, the two record store clerks. Barry is everybody’s worst nightmare clerk, the kind I always get at computer stores. You’d better know your stuff because he simply doesn’t truck with idiots. Todd has a kind of enigmatic mystique that makes his geekishness more mysterious than geeky. The two are quite a pair.
This movie won’t change your life, but it’s entertaining, especially
for music buffs and Cusack fans. Rock ‘n roll is here to stay, and so, the
movie suggests, is fidelity.
Rated R for language and some
sexuality
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