High Fidelity (2000)

Rob, a record store owner and compulsive list maker, recounts his top five breakups, including the one in progress.

Director:

Stephen Frears

Writers:

Nick Hornby (book), D.V. DeVincentis (screenplay)

Stars:

John Cusack, Iben Hjejle, Todd Louiso

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 3 wins & 21 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Cusack	...	Rob Gordon
Iben Hjejle	...	Laura
Todd Louiso	...	Dick
Jack Black	...	Barry Judd
Lisa Bonet	...	Marie De Salle
Catherine Zeta-Jones	...	Charlie Nicholson
Joan Cusack	...	Liz
Tim Robbins	...	Ian Raymond
Chris Rehmann	...	Vince
Ben Carr	...	Justin
Lili Taylor	...	Sarah Kendrew
Joelle Carter	...	Penny Hardwick
Natasha Gregson Wagner	...	Caroline Fortis
Shannon Stillo	...	Alison Jr. High
Drake Bell	...	Rob Jr. High

Storyline

Thirty-something Rob Gordon, a former club DJ, owns a not so lucrative used record store in Chicago. He not so much employs Barry and Dick, but rather keeps them around as they showed up at the store one day and never left. All three are vinyl and music snobs, but in different ways. Rob has a penchant for compiling top five lists. The latest of these lists is his top five break-ups, it spurred by the fact that his latest girlfriend, Laura, a lawyer, has just broken up with him. He believed that Laura would be the one who would last, partly as an expectation of where he would be at this stage in his life. Rob admits that there have been a few incidents in their relationship which in an of themselves could be grounds for her to want to break-up. To his satisfaction, Laura is not on this top five list. Rob feels a need not only to review the five relationships, which go back as far a middle school when he was twelve, and try to come to terms with why the woman, or girl as the case may be...

---

Plot Keywords:

employer employee relationship | store | record store | vinyl | thirty something | 

---

Taglines:

Let's get it on. Maybe tonight.

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Music | Romance

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some sexuality

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English Danish

Release Date:

31 March 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Haute fidélité

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$6,429,107 (USA) (31 March 2000)

Gross:

$27,277,055 (USA) (8 September 2000)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Pictures, Working Title Films, Dogstar Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the eighth film in which John Cusack and Joan Cusack have appeared together. The others are Class (1983), Sixteen Candles (1984), Grandview, U.S.A. (1984), Broadcast News (1987),Say Anything... (1989), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) and Cradle Will Rock (1999)

---

Goofs

Rob mentions "Radiation Ruling the Nation" as one of his favorite side A, no. 1 tracks; he correctly identifies it as coming from the album "No Protection" (an album of remixes, and not the first release of the song). Arguably, this isn't a Massive Attack album, since it's actually remixes by Mad Professor. But the list is not restricted to debut albums, as some misinterpreted it.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Rob: What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?

---

Crazy Credits

After all the credits, the crackling out-groove of a vinyl album is heard.

---

Connections

Referenced in Soloalbum (2003)

---

Soundtracks

Soaring and Boring
Written by Liam Hayes
Performed by Plush
Courtesy of Drag City

User Reviews

Honesty Never Felt So Good

Who says familiarity breeds contempt? In this film of heart break, betrayal, true friendship, and love, Cusak adapts Hornby's book perfectly, melding self doubt, fear of death, and a search for truth with modern cinema and pop music. Rob, Dick, and Barry are all struggling men in their late twenties (thirties in the book) trying to find a way to identify themselves, and live at peace. Rob has the most conflict as he flounders through one relationship to another, never getting comfortable, and always finding a way to mess it up. It's a brilliant tale of coming to terms with reality, and having a bit of fun along the way. The casting was pheonimal, scenes perfectly picked, and music parallelling that of the mood set in the book. It's just a shame so much had to be cut. I would recommend this movie to anyone with a calloused ear and a desire to finally relate with a character.