High Fidelity (2000)

Five reasons I wanted to watch High Fidelity:

• I enjoyed the original book by Nick Hornby.
• It’s about girls, why we seek them out, and why things don’t always work.
• It employs mix-compiling as a device.
• It employs list-making as a device.
• I once gave up a rare version of the poster, and have fixated on it ever since.

My ten favourite cast members from High Fidelity:

• John Cusack as Rob Gordon
• Natasha Gregson Wagner as the girl from The Reader
• Alex Desert (Swingers) as Louis
• Todd Louiso as Dick
• Joan Cusack as Liz
• Lisa Bonet as Marie de Salle
• Sara Gilbert as Annaugh Moss
• Lili Taylor as Sarah Kendrew
• Tim Robbins as Ian “Ray” Raymond
• Bruce Springsteen as himself

Five ways High Fidelity’s Rob Gordon reminded me of Ferris Bueller:

• He lives in Chicago.
• He often breaks the fourth wall.
• He rarely compromises.
• He is surrounded by similar music.
• He’s oh-so-retro.

Five of my favourite quotations from High Fidelity:

• “It would be nice to think, since I was fourteen, times have changed.”
• “If you don’t know, there’s a chance, right?”
• “What really matters is what you like, not what you are like.  Books, records, films, these things matter.  Call me shallow but it’s the fucking truth.”
• “I guess it made sense to commit to nothing, keeping my options open, but that’s suicide . . . by tiny, tiny increments.”
• “I’m tired of the fantasy because it doesn’t really exist.”

Five cool musical references in High Fidelity:

• The first Fantastic Plastic Machine album
• A Bauhaus T-shirt
• Two separate appearances of Herb Alpert’s Whipped Cream album
• The Beta Band’s “Dry the Rain” scene
• Love’s cover of Burt Bacharach’s “Little Red Book”

Five random thoughts about High Fidelity:

• Catherine Zeta-Jones (Entrapment) in a Pretenders shirt almost offsets her character’s personality.  Almost.
• Sometimes, just sometimes, a cheating, mooching scumbag has a valid excuse.
• Peter Frampton’s “Baby I Love Your Way” works well with the right performer.
• Some of Rob’s relationships ended for very good reasons.
• Jack Black (Be Kind Rewind) was really abrasive even before he got famous, but he sure can sing.

Five reasons to watch — and re-watch — High Fidelity:

• It contains the single funniest revenge fantasy I’ve ever seen.
• Freeze-frame the establishing shots of Championship Vinyl and just look around.
• It’s life-affirming…
• …yet honest…
• …with ample style to spare.

Rated 14A/R for adult situations and language

114 minutes