HIGH FIDELITY Review
The topic of heartbreak has been fertile ground for film for about as long as humans (and their sensitive hearts) have existed. Incidentally, thirty-something white males have also existed about roughly the same duration, so it makes sense that there have been hundreds upon hundreds of films dedicated to brokenhearted white dudes since the advent of cinema. A largely renowned outlier in that previously mentioned unofficial genre, director Stephen Frears’ HIGH FIDELITY brings a unique sense of realism to the proceedings in addition to a prevalent dose of pop sensibilities. For better or worse, Frears’ film has no issue in bringing audiences into the mind and world of a 2000’s-era man looking for the cure to his unending bout of heartbreak.
Based off the book by Nick Hornby and written by the likes of D.V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, John Cusack, and Scott Rosenberg, HIGH FIDELITY takes you into the 2000’s lifestyle and fashion sense of one Rob Gordon, played by all around cool guy John Cusack. Rob, like many other cinematic heartbroken white dudes before him is uhh, well, he’s going through it to say the least as we first find him addressing the camera with downer musings on the interrelationship of music and pain. You see Rob, a former club DJ turned sad sack owner of a middling record store in Chicago, is in the midst of a breakup with his current girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjejle) and as a proud creator of a variety of “Top 5” lists, Rob soon takes the audience through his “Top 5” breakups as a way to try and figure out why he can’t seem to keep a good relationship going. As Rob recounts his past relationships (with his “Number 1 Breakup” starting when he was 12) and their subsequent dissolutions, our pretentious music snob of a protagonist comes to learn a thing or two about what it takes to make an adult relationship last.
Told with an ironic sense of humor and a boatload of attitude, HIGH FIDELITY strives to create an entertaining and pseudo-realistic portrait of a 2000’s-era thirty-something man going through a personal crisis. While the dialogue gives off plenty of humorous stingers and observations aimed at the likes of grown men who spend their days arguing over women and the legitimacy of various musical artists, the screenwriters find more success in bringing to life a world that feels authentically human, warts and all. Indeed, Rob as a protagonist is far from perfect as he hedges much closer to a sort of self-serious dick, but to the testament of a solidly game Cusack and an understanding director in Frears, Rob talks and acts like any other complicated guy roughly coming to terms with his own hang-ups. That sense of biting realism is prevalent throughout the film’s story as Rob, on his quest to figure himself out in an effort to save his current relationship, goes through all the frustrating highs and lows of that hassling quest called “self-discovery”. In that, HIGH FIDELITY impressionably stands out amongst its peers; it’s just a shame that the rest of the movie isn’t as interesting as its approach.
Whether it’s Cusack’s monologues and spilling of thoughts to the camera or in the way that Rob and the other characters talk to each, HIGH FIDELITY is a little too clever and raw for its own good. To the filmmaker’s credit, it really does feel like viewers hang out with Rob as he flits around with his friends/employees (Jack Black and Todd Louiso), dourly contemplates his love life, and spouts pretentious music opinions at any sad sap who enters his record store but to its equal detriment, audiences are indeed hanging out with a guy that in the real world, may be one of the worst people to get stuck in a room with for more than an hour.
While there is promise in the idea of a man recounting his past conquests (who span the likes of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Lili Taylor, among others), the film never really goes too in-depth with these past romances and how they impacted Rob, outside of a few “years later” meet-ups that simply result in various “aha” moments for our protagonist. This leads to the female characters hardly getting any actual interesting character qualities themselves, acting merely as stepping stones for Rob’s journey of self-discovery, which may be intentional sure, but overall contributes to a film that has an aura of a smarm to it. As a result, that feeling of sidelining in regards to the women in Rob’s life is reflected in the central romance between Rob and Laura, which Rob and the film treat with utmost importance. However, due to lacking and bland chemistry between Cusack and the perpetually calm Hjejle, the central romance and conflict of the film fail to muster any strong feelings from the viewer as one would rather spend time with Rob recounting his past screw ups or hanging out at the record store.
This results in a movie that finds itself in a strange predicament. While the world and the characters are in place to create a relatable and honest depiction of modern day romance, the execution found in the story itself and an over-compensating script neuter the high aspirations of HIGH FIDELITY. Try as Frears might, whose direction ranges from workmanlike to occasionally lively, the film he concocts never stops feeling like a well produced record that holds little emotional weight in its lyrics.
2.5/5
