John Cusack has made a name for himself playing the kinds of characters that the regular moviegoer can identify with. Since the early eighties, he has played a similar kind of “average joe” character in many of his films, including Say Anything and Better Off Dead. Even in the late nineties, when these common man roles began to take on a dark twist, like with his killer-for-hire in Grosse Pointe Blank or the crazed puppeteer of Being John Malkovich, we still couldn’t help but somehow see ourselves in these characters.
In High Fidelity Cusack sticks with what he does best, being himself, and it really pays off. In fact the whole film is a monument to audience identification. I guarantee that if you yourself don’t connect with the crazed music fans in this movie, you know someone who these characters are the spitting image of.
Cusack is Rob Gordon, an owner of a record store who has been unlucky in affairs of the heart. As the movie begins, his present girlfriend is leaving him, and he uses the opportunity to speak directly to the audience about the nature of relationships. Director Stephen Frears uses this device of main character as commentator to give the film the feel of a really good book, fitting with the fact that Rob’s exploits were adapted to film from a novel by the same name by Nick Hornby.
Rob’s only real friends are the two music fanatics who work at his store part of the time and just hang out there the rest of it. Jack Black plays the loudmouthed, opinionated Barry and his soft-spoken but knowledgeable counterpart Dick is played by Todd Louiso. Together these two really steal the show, Barry‘s abrasive nature still managing to find its way into our hearts and Dick serving as the perfect foil or straight man to Barry‘s zany antics.
Together the three men have the sort of meaningless conversations about pop culture that always seem to fill movies about Gen Xers, but the idol worship of the banal is taken to a new level with Rob, Barry and Dick. Their knowledge of obscure trivia about the music they love verges on obsession until we too realize that there are things in our own lives that we can be equally obsessive about, be it our affinity for movies, cars, or our collection of antique glassware. Once that relationship between reality and the fictitious world of the film has been established, we cannot help but have an affinity for these characters and their endless “top five” lists.
Alone Rob laments the loss of love, trying to gain back his now ex-girlfriend Laura, played by Iben Hjejle, in the only way a true, depressed male knows how: pestering her constantly. Meanwhile he laments old break-ups through a series of flashbacks and cameos from famous actresses playing these former loves, including Catherine Zeta-Jones. In an attempt to understand what went wrong, Rob tries to track down each of these women, and of course there are disastrous yet funny results.
The story and directing are really given only the bare minimum of attention, but in this case it works to the film’s advantage. The simplicity of the plot and the unobtrusive visual work lets the characters be the stand-out of the film. The actors have great freedom in this loose framework, and they are allowed to bring the portrayal of their characters into the limelight. One of the most brilliant aspects of the film is the way very minor players are fully rounded out in their roles, including some of the record store’s customers who appear in only one or two scenes. Bit parts are given to some very big stars, such as Tim Robbins or Sara Gilbert, and these actors are able to give their characters real depth even though they appear on screen for only a few minutes.
High Fidelity’s cast, led by John Cusack, are able to carry this movie beyond any superficial traits that the characters themselves might display. The brilliant acting jobs all around allow the deeper themes on love and relationships to transcend the uncomplicated filmmaking style. It is a film that really works its way into the hearts of its audience, and it demonstrates how John Cusack is certain to maintain a strong following for the rest of his hopefully long career.
