High Fidelity (2000) or, Record Store Romance

5/17/2022

High Fidelity (2000) or, Record Store Romance

♥♥♥

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.

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

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

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

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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?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

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Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (14-24)

5/17/2022