High Fidelity

Director: Stephen Frears

Screenplay: D. V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, John Cusack, and Scott Rosenberg

Minutes: 113

Year: 2000

Score: 8.00

For the better part of 20 years I have tried to make High Fidelity the first movie I watch every year. It is one of my absolute favorites.

From the box: Order here!

Join John Cusack and Jack Black in a comedy sure to make your all-time-Top-Five List. Experience all the laughter and the drama of High Fidelity on Blu-ray for the first time, complete with a new digital restoration.

Rob Gordon’s (Cusack) semi-failing record store isn’t the only thing in his life that’s floundering. When is longtime girlfriend walks out on him, Rob’s needle skips the love groove, and he is forced to examine his past romantic failures in his own unique way. Give High Fidelity a spin – it rocks on Blu-ray!

Sometimes copy text is awful. Don’t read that, even though if you are reading this you probably already have. While it is technically accurate the allusions are just dreadful. How about this for a slug.

From Me:

A breakup causes record store owner to re-evaluate his failed relationships (in a way that is troubling through a modern lens). Rob (Cusack) is a collector who needs to apply his obsessive love of physical media to his life to understand where he went wrong.

My wife didn’t know that, before we were married, I would spin up this DVD at 12:01 on the first of the year. Then I slacked for a bit and would watch it within the first few days of the year. Then for the last four years I would wake up and spin it up then she would watch the back half with me after she rolled out of bed. I cannot say for sure why I started this tradition.

Maybe it is the fact that I am a Rob Gordon; I don’t own a record store and I am happily married, so the stress of owning, and relying, on a business and having a string of failed relationships does not apply. But as you can probably guess by this blog, I am a rabid collector of physical media. I love to sort and organize. I love to find rare and hard to find films. But I don’t think I am a snob abou…nah, I am totally a snob about it.

A couple of months ago I was at a family gathering and some cousins quoted a movie at me. Everyone laughed. I had no idea where it was from. It turns out it was from Anchorman, which I haven’t watched. I have always thought of it as a throw away pop record (movie) that wouldn’t scratch my itch. I have put it back on my eventually list.

The comedy in High Fidelity hits my sweet spot of self-deprecation mixed with a monstrous amount of useless knowledge required just to crack the gaffs. Sure, it is funny for most people, but it is razor sharp for me. It is important to note that I was 22 when I watched this for the first time and I was working at a video store, so it truly could be a your-mileage-may-very situation.  But if you are a longtime reader of this site you are likely have the same collector’s gene (virus) that I have so I would wager that you will enjoy this movie too.

I would probably consider this alongside The Big Chill and The Breakfast Club as a generational film with a driving soundtrack that would come to personify their fans to following generations. I enjoy The Bill Chill and The Breakfast Club, but they feel disconnected by time.

This film was the major break for Jack Black. He had numerous roles before this but after this film it was clear that he was a major box office draw and was constantly earning starring vehicles. That meant a lot to a twenty-something Jason.

Here is the problem, though. It is owned by Buena Vista (read Disney) pictures and they are not well known for putting resources behind home video release, especially those that don’t start with a castle or include spandex. There is a Blu-ray in print, sure, but the special features were ports from the original DVD so there is nothing really special about it. I don’t really know about how frequently Disney licenses films to distributed by boutique labels, but I would love to see this get the royal treatment. Maybe the new TV series might elevate any plans.

I don’t typically spend any time going over soundtracks but since I always see this vinyl at Barnes and Noble, and since I wore out my first copy of the soundtrack I think this one deserves a nod. Without any scientific method High Fidelity has my favorite “music from” soundtracks available. My relationships with The Velvet Underground, The Beta Band, and Elvis Costello all started here. To this day they each have a special function in my musical tastes. This soundtrack, along with my friends Tony, Jim, and Jeff, made me who I am today, musically. This movie is why I have gotten into arguments over the value of vinyl over CDs. (Which now makes me see a correlation between liberal and conservative politics, that is out of left field)

So why is this film essential? First, I would suggest that anything a film writer watches every single year is essential, to them at the very least. Second, it is the embodiment of the collector culture, which our loved ones may call hoarding. Third, I am a film snob and I obviously know that I am right.

Special Features:

• Conversations with Writer/Co-Producer John Cusack and Director Stephen Frears
• Deleted Scenes

Director: 9 – Cinematography: 6 – Edit: 5 – Parity: 6 – Main performance: 10 – Else performance: 8 – Score: 10 – Sound: 7 – Story: 10 – Script: 10 – Effects: 5 – Design: 7 – Costumes: 7 – Keeps interest: 10 – Lasting: 10