High Fidelity (2000)

Director:

Stephen Frears

Writers (WGA):

Nick Hornby (book)
D.V. DeVincentis (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

31 March 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Music | Romance

Tagline:

A comedy about fear of commitment, hating your job, falling in love and other pop favorites.

Plot:

Rob, a record store owner and compulsive list maker, recounts his top five breakups, including the one in progress.

Plot Keywords:

Sexuality | Teenage Boy | Record Store | Actor Talks To Audience | Baldness

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 2 wins & 18 nominations

Cast

John Cusack	...	Rob Gordon
Iben Hjejle	...	Laura
Todd Louiso	...	Dick
Jack Black	...	Barry
Lisa Bonet	...	Marie De Salle
Catherine Zeta-Jones	...	Charlie Nicholson
Joan Cusack	...	Liz
Tim Robbins	...	Ian 'Ray' Raymond
Chris Rehmann	...	Vince
Ben Carr	...	Justin
Lili Taylor	...	Sarah Kendrew
Joelle Carter	...	Penny Hardwick
Natasha Gregson Wagner	...	Caroline Fortis
Shannon Stillo	...	Alison Jr. High
Drake Bell	...	Rob Jr. High

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some sexuality.

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English | Danish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:L | South Korea:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Malaysia:U (cut version) | Brazil:14 | Malaysia:18PL | USA:R (certificate #37241) | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Denmark:A (DVD rating) | Finland:K-8 | France:U | Germany:12 (bw) | Netherlands:AL | New Zealand:M | Peru:14 | Singapore:M18 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Spain:7 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Buck Town, Lincoln Square, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Dogstar Films

Trivia:

Barry says that Rob is wearing a "Cosby" sweater, imitating Bill Cosby's voice as he says this. Star Lisa Bonet starred in "The Cosby Show" (1984).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During one of the phone conversations between Rob and Laura, Laura is shown in fairly tight close up. She is holding a "slimline" phone handset and at the extreme bottom edge of the frame you can see that although there is a phone cord socket on the phone, the cord is not attached. This is visible several times during the conversation.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Rob: What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Dialogue: An Interview with Screenwriter Scott Rosenberg (2006) (V)

Soundtrack:

Baby Got Going

Music is the soundtrack to your life

And High Fidelity shows that this is more true for Rob Gordon (John Cusack) than most people. Rob owns Championship Vinyl, a record store where he and his two employees, Dick (Todd Louiso) and Barry (Jack Black), argue about music and insult customers. This is the background for a fantastic movie early in the year and one of the funniest movies I've seen in a while.

The movie's main plot is Rob recounting his past breakups via his favorite organizing device, the Top 5 List. He purposely excludes his most recent girlfriend, Laura, from it. He is trying to deal with her leaving him for a strange, world music-listening, martial arts-doing freak named Ian (Tim Robbins). Then he decides to look up all his old girlfriends, and in the process finds out a lot about himself.

The best scenes, however, are those in the record store - Todd Louiso and especially the utterly hilarious Jack Black steal every scene they're in. They argue over music incessantly, and anyone who knows a good deal about music will be laughing hysterically during these scenes. Dick is a quiet music geek in the classic sense of the word, while Barry is a cruel, ridiculous elitist.

In the end, High Fidelity is a wonderful, terribly funny movie with a lot of great stuff in it. See it.