High Fidelity (2000) or, Record Store Romance

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Different hairstyles on an vinyl record cover adorn this poster for Stephen Frears' High Fidelity

Record store owner Robert is left by his blond girlfriend Laura, and in the process of reassessing his own break-up story realizes that he has to win her back.

 

High Fidelity is written by D.V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink (Grosse Point Blank (1997), both), Scott Rosenberg (Happy Town (2010, TV-series)) and co-writer/star John Cusack (War, Inc. (2008)), adapting the same-titled 1995 novel by Nick Hornby (Slam (2007)), and directed by English master filmmaker Stephen Frears (Gumshoe (1971)), whose 12th feature it is.

The story is related mainly through Cusack's Robert's narration directly to the camera, and Cusack and Frears get this to work at times. But the technique is overused and also get annoying at other times. 

A side note: If you are not convinced that the 1990s was the ugliest decade fashion-wise in modern history, I'll recommend you to look at the dubious robes in High Fidelity. 

The film seems to come to its conclusion, - but then it actually has a good 10 minutes more of babble in store for us. What makes High Fidelity worthwhile nonetheless are the good performances from Cusack and Iben Hjejle (Klovn (2005-09)) as Laura, along with Jack Black (Jesus' Son (1999)), who is allowed to give a lovely musical number in the end, and Joan Cusack (Freaks of Nature (2015)). The latter two are both funny here.

 

Related posts:

Stephen Frears:   Top 10: Best dramedies reviewed by Film Excess to date

Top 10: The best biopic movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess

Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) - Streep, Frears and Co. drop us a delightful present 

Top 10: Best UK movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V] 

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV] 

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

Philomena (2013) - Dench astounds in Frears' powerful true-story drama

Mrs Henderson Presents (2005) or, Wartime Swinging London 

Dirty Pretty Things (2002) - Good performances anchor Frears' flawed, overrated illegal immigrant drama

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 30 mil. $

Box office: 47.1 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.57 times its cost)

[High Fidelity premiered 17 March (South by Southwest Film Festival) and runs 113 minutes. Black was paid 250k $ for his performance. Shooting took place from April - July 1999 in California, New York and in Chicago, Illinois. The film opened #5, behind holdover hit Erin Brockovich, fellow new releases The Road to El Dorado and The Skulls and holdover hit Romeo Must Die, to a 6.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 27.2 mil. $ (57.7 % of the total gross). The film was nominated for a BAFTA, won an AFI award, and was nominated for a Golden Globe and a Grammy, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. A same-titled TV-series version was made with Zoe Kravitz in the gender-swapped lead and canceled after 1 season in 2020. Frears returned with Fail-Safe (2000, TV movie) and theatrically with Liam (2000). Cusack returned in America's Sweethearts (2001). High Fidelity is certified fresh at 91 % with a 7.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of High Fidelity? 

Klown/Klovn - The Movie (2010) - Nørgaard, Hvam and Christensen strike comedy gold

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Danish Movie of the Year

The upbeat, well-made poster for Mikkel Nørgaard's Klown

  
Klown is the feature debut of Mikkel Nørgaard (Klown Forever/Klovn Forever (2015)), written by co-stars Casper Christensen (Player (2013)) and Frank Hvam (What's Wrong with This Picture?/Tid til Forandring (2004)), based on the Klown/Klovn sitcom (2005-09) in which the two portray characters based on themselves in their own names.

Frank is going with his best friend and work companion on a canoe trip, which Casper has named 'Tour de Pussy', but when it turns out that Frank's long-time girlfriend Mia is pregnant and that she has doubts about Frank's qualities as a father figure, Frank kidnaps his prepubescent nephew Bo and brings him along on the manly trip to prove her wrong...

The two beloved characters have all the maturity of their much younger real-life counterparts in Michael Noer's documentary The Wild Hearts/De Vilde Hjerter (2008), but Frank's intentions are, for the most part, honorable, which redeems him at least. The acting is good, (SPOILER perhaps with the exemption of Christensen's breakdown scene), and in a couple of scenes even reach touching heights.
Drama-wise the film is a well-oiled machine. The video camera aesthetic of the TV-series is maintained, which is okay. One is chagrined and laughing over and over again in this very successful adaptation into a new format. SPOILER The ending, which features pictures of Bo's penis shown at his confirmation party, (made using a costly prosthetic), will cross the line for many audiences.


Related posts:

Mikkel Nørgaard: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Klown Forever/Klovn Forever (2015) - A raunchy laugh smash
The Keeper of Lost Causes/Kvinden i Buret (2013) or, Grumpy and Ethnic Find a Woman in a Pressure Chamber
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Here is a clip from the sequel, Klown Forever (2015)

Cost: 14 mil. DKK, equal to approximately 2.1 mil. $
Box office: 13.2 mil. $
= Huge hit
[Klown was released December 16 (Denmark) and runs 100 minutes. It was filmed from July - October 2010 in Copenhagen and around in Jutland, Denmark. 4.9 mil. DKK of the budget was granted from the Danish Film Institute. The film is reportedly the 2nd highest grossing Danish film of all time. It received good reviews and managed to become (in the two weeks up to New Year's Eve) the biggest Danish film in the country of the year with 481k admissions. By the end of its run, it had sold 848,500 tickets in Denmark, which is spectacular. In North America, it was shown at a couple of smaller festivals and grossed 68k $. It did better business in Iceland and Norway, but racked up almost its total gross in its native Denmark: 12 mil. $ (90.1 % of the total gross). A sequel came out in 2015, and the rights to a remake have been secured by Warner Bros., possibly to star Danny McBride. Klown is certified fresh at 71 % with a 6.1 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Klown?

The Boss of It All/Direktøren for Det Hele (2006) - Von Trier's hilarious absurd comedy

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+ Best Comedy of the Year + Best Experimental Movie of the Year + Most Under-appreciated Movie of the Year

The US poster for Lars Von Trier's The Boss of It All

QUICK REVIEW:

Mr. Ravn is the boss of an obscure IT company, but for ten years he has pretended that the company had another boss above him. Now he wants to sell the company, so he hires an actor to do his dirty work.

Danish master writer-director Lars Von Trier's (Breaking the Waves (1996)) comical talent is here on its freest display; Boss presents intelligent plays with clichés, perceptions and prejudices, shot in a curious mechanized system named Automavision, which lets a computer randomly select where the camera should be placed.
The very Danish urge for unification and being in agreement socially is dramatized poignantly throughout the film with coldblooded, sharp-toothed glee.
Jens Albinus (The Idiots/Idioterne (1998)) and Peter Gantzler (Italian for Beginners/Italiensk for Begyndere (2000)) and the scenes with the Icelanders are hilarious.
Von Trier's clever, great sense of humor makes one wish he would return to comedy, but his next project is still announced to be the serial killer series, The House That Jack Built, tentatively set for a 2016 release.

Related posts:

Lars Von Trier:  Nymphomaniac (2013) short version, vol. 1 & vol. 2, or, Lars Von Trier's Suck It
Melancholia (2011) - Von Trier's heightened reality doomsday reflections 
Antichrist (2009) - Von Trier's cabin-in-the-woods psycho-horror 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Dear Wendy (2005) - Vinterberg and Von Trier's unpopular, gun-themed megaflop (writer)  
Dancer in the Dark (2000) or, Selma the Immigrant 

Peter Gantzler and Jens Albinus in Lars Von Trier's The Boss of It All

Cost: 4 mil. $
Box office: 3.1 mil. $
= Huge flop
[Boss was released in Denmark in December to poor reviews and 18k+ admissions, making it 1.1 mil. DKR. It made 51k $ in North America. Its 3 biggest markets were Italy (1.2 mil. $/38.7 % of the total gross), Spain (0.6 mil. $/19.4 %) and Sweden (0.2 mil. $/6.5 %). The rights to a remake have been in development at Universal Pictures since 2011. The Boss of It All is certified fresh at 75  % with a 6.6 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Boss of It All?

Klown Forever/Klovn Forever (2015) - A raunchy laugh smash

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+ Best Los Angeles Movie of the Year

Casper Christensen and Frank Hvam on what must be the year's most outrageous poster, for Mikkel Nørgaard's Klown Forever

Klown Forever is the sequel to the huge Danish comedy hit Klown/Klovn: The Movie (2010), which was based on the TV-series Klown/Klovn (2005-09), in which Danish comedians Casper Christensen (Player (2013)) and Frank Hvam (What's Wrong with This Picture?/Tid Til Forandring (2004)) play themselves in their celebrity-studded, clownish Copenhagen lives.

Frank has become a henpecked father and husband, and his old best friend Casper, now single, is living in another universe and consequently decides to leave Frank and Denmark to pursue his dreams of making it big in Los Angeles.

For us who have laughed hysterically at Klown before, - TV-series and/or the movie, - Klown Forever is like a box of candies. - It's just a lot of fun. Christensen and especially Hvam, who also co-wrote and executive produced the film, are back in top shape, comically if not physically, and they go all in once again, resulting in awkwardness and uproarious laughter aplenty.
The plot may be a bit thick at some points, but it generally works, even though it doesn't have the major narrative drive of the first film, (the journey of that film isn't comparable to the one here, which is cut short.) To get out the other few problems of the film, debuting actress Simone Colling looks fine but she comes up a bit short acting-wise here as Casper's daughter, a quite big part. The film also has a couple of effects-shots that unfortunately simply don't look good enough.

Mia Lyhne (All Inclusive (2014)) is spectacular, and looks as good as ever, or even better, and I am hoping for a more Mia-centered plot if a proposed third movie happens.
Lars Hjortshøj (Journey to Saturn/Rejsen til Saturn (2008)) and Tina Bilsbo (Langt fra Las Vegas (2001-02)) are hilarious as Frank and Mia's overly loving friend couple, and Iben Hjejle (High Fidelity (2000)) plays a bitchy version of herself (again.)
Klown Forever introduces to the Klown universe Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones (2011-16)), Adam Levine (Begin Again (2014)) and Isla Fisher (Bachelorette (2012)), who plays herself in the scene that I found to be the outrageous film's absolute funniest. - Although there are many to choose from.
The hilarities are once again directed by Mikkel Nørgaard (Klown/Klovn: The Movie). 

Related posts:

Mikkel Nørgaard: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]  
The Keeper of Lost Causes/Kvinden i Buret (2013) or, GRumpy and Ethnic Find a Woman in a Pressure Chamber

Watch the official trailer here, - unfortunately, it is not currently available with English subtitles

Cost: 27.1 mil. DKR/4.1µ$
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertainty
[Shot in 2014 in Los Angeles and Copenhagen, Klown Forever is produced by Hvam and Christensen's Nutmeg Movies, TV2 and with 4 mil. DKR in support from the Danish Film Institute's market arrangement. The film was shown in Cannes for selling purposes and released in Denmark on September 24th. It has so far drawn 308k admissions in Denmark, which is quite strong, but still far from the stunning 850+ thousands that paid to see the first film. It opens in Iceland and Norway on Friday 10.9.]

What do you think of Klown Forever?