Responses to this message:
Here's another great review of this film. I'm seeing it on Thursday and will post my review on Friday. A couple of points: 1. Stephen Frears directed Cusack earlier in "The Grifters" with Annette Benning and Anjelica Huston. This was a largely overlooked film, but I would reccommend it highly (however, only if you like dark films). 2. There is a comparison in this review to John Cusack's "Grosse Point Blank." If you like Cusack films in general and (I'm guessing) if you like "High Fidelity," you will love "Grosse Point Blank." It is a very funny, and subtly moving near the end (think the baby scene for those of you who have seen it):
"Review
"High Fidelity" - A Review by 'The Bishop' (Very Positive - No Spoilers)
In the new Stephen Frears film HIGH FIDELITY, John Cusack stars as Rob, a loner with a barely thriving record store and a fresh emotional scar from his breakup with his latest girlfriend. Contemplating what went wrong in his life, Rob looks back through the years to recall the mistakes he made with past girlfriends. It is in the memories that Rob hopes to figure out why the feminine mystique is so elusive.
In the spirit of the "top five" list obsessed Rob, I present the top five reasons why you should see HIGH FIDELITY.
5) To all the fans out there who loved the last Cusack production GROSSE POINTE BLANK, HIGH FIDELITY offers more of the same hipness and desperate characters that made the 1997 hitman comedy such a winner. But FIDELITY is a more softer piece of writing. Produced and written by Cusack, Steve Pink, and D.V. DeVincentis - and based on the book by Nick Hornby - FIDELITY is another solid home run for the folks at Cusack's New Crime Productions. A mix of sly low-rent record store humor and heartbreakingly real characters who, try as they might, do not know a thing about real love. It's a wonderful story guided by the almost-written-off director Frears. It's Rob's point of view of the events, and it's told through some hilarious monologues with Cusack staring directly at the audience. It's an overused trick (TV's MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE and countless others), and a bit unnerving, but Cusack's boundless energy makes it snap and pop.
4) Cusack, Cusack, Cusack... It seems to me that when he writes his own material, he seems to put more effort into his performances. He's a great actor, but FIDELITY offers the actor a giant chew toy of a part to play. As the stressed Rob, Cusack runs the gauntlet of emotions and comes out more confident than ever as an actor. How many other performers can you name that consistently jump at the chance to play lying, womanizing, poorly groomed characters with zero redeeming values? The way Cusack pulls it off is marvelous and uplifting. You end up caring what happens to Rob even as you witness firsthand the subdued evil that occasionally sneaks out of him. A good person at heart, Rob is simply too overwhelmed by his own selfishness to truly see what kind of jerk he is to women. Cusack brings sympathy to Rob even in scenes where there simply isn't any. It might be way too early to start campaigning, but I do honestly believe that Cusack deserves academy award attention for his acting here.
3) I liken co-star Jack Black to a loaded gun. If you point him in the wrong direction you can hurt someone (THE JACKAL, I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER). Use him properly, you have comedy gold (TENACIOUS D) and nobody ends up in pain. Black steals every last scene he has in HIGH FIDELITY. Cameos by Tim Robbins and Catherine Zeta Jones are also equally as entertaining.
2) Stephen Frears get all the locations just right. Rob’s vinyl store is represented through fading promotional stickers and long lost posters for bands that mattered before music died with Cobain. Even from the first shot of the store, that old feeling of being someplace special comes rushing back. Christ, you can even feel that cool vinyl blackness of the records for sale. Rob’s store is that place away from the internet and mass chain music stores which have taken away the independent record shop. Frears and the screenwriters have a lot of fun playing with indie record store clichés and the fun is infectious. I could've watched an entire movie on the antics in the store alone.
1) What ends up making HIGH FIDELITY so special is the humanity of the characters. Everybody is flawed and everybody accepts each other. It's hard to not appreciate the care is which this film was made with. An attempt at character drama without the overacting and half-baked scenarios. A true winner. ---------- 10"
Responses to this message:
Post a response to this discussion thread