High Fidelity 2000, Rated R Buena Vista Home Entertainment

Buy it from

Starring John Cusack, et al. Released to DVD on September 19, 2000.

America's fascination with reality-based entertainment came to a head during the summer of 2000 when television and cable programs like Survivor, Big Brother and The Real World were snaring the year's highest Nielsen ratings. Given the sheer amount of viewer enjoyment and (translation) money that has come from the networks' exploitation of this sense of voyeurism lurking in most Americans, I find it very interesting that the motion picture industry has not begun to make a conscious effort to develop more films that have an accurate and mature portrayal of human situations and relationships. If history is any indication, it would seem that the minute Survivor became the 'It' show, the book and movie wouldn't be far behind.

However, quite the opposite is the case. To date in 2000, only three movies have stood out for their ability to capture a realistic adult dynamic between men and women: Phil Joanou's Entropy, Keith Gordon's Waking the Dead and, most humorously, director Stephen Frears' Chicago tale of loves lost, High Fidelity.

John Cusack stars in High Fidelity as Rob Gordon, a generally likable guy who owns a failing record store in Wicker Park. When Rob's latest girlfriend, Laura (Iben Hjejle), breaks up with him and moves out of their apartment, Rob takes a deep breath and starts to examine the problems he has encountered in his romantic life; why is it that he has never been able to maintain a normal, committed relationship with a woman he loves?

The dry, wryly observant tone was an important part of High Fidelity, but this was secondary to the contributions of the film's producer, co-writer and star, John Cusack.

After working in the industry for almost 20 years, Cusack has taken the idea of playing the lovable outcast from what was viewed as a chore to that of an art form; a different actor in the lead could have ruined this movie. However, the most telling and influential role Cusack played was as the movie's co-producer.

Adapted from English author Nick Hornby's book of the same name, Cusack steadfastly refused to participate in the making of this film unless the setting of the story was changed from the book's London locale to Chicago. The motives for this move may have been personal--Cusack was born and raised in Evanston, a suburb of Chicago--but, regardless of why the change was made, the end result was that High Fidelity has a far more accessible and identifiable setting for American audiences than that of Hornby's tome.

One of the only problems I had with High Fidelity came with the speed at which I was thrown into the lives of the main characters. Ignoring protocol and a brief five to ten minute warm-up, Frears positively pounces on the audience, plowing right into the plot material, giving movie-goers absolutely no chance to ease into the film. The result of this tactic was that the characters initially seemed too brusk, meek, or fragile to instantly garner both our attention and affection. Once you have adapted to this this unusual style of the opening though, the characters quickly begin to grow on you.

Intelligent, funny and well crafted both by Frears and the screenwriters, High Fidelity is one film that deserves to be "guaranteed in stock".