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 and 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 as middle school when he was twelve, and try to come to terms with why the woman, or girl as the case may ...

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Plot Keywords:

employer employee relationship | two word title | record store | vinyl | thirty something | 

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Taglines:

Let's get it on. Maybe tonight.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Music | Romance

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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:

Alta fidelidad

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,429,107, 2 April 2000, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$27,277,055, 10 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

Film debuts of Chris Rehmann and Ben Carr, who play the skaters Vince and Justin who keep stealing Rob's store.

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Goofs

In the "Little Latin Lupe Lu" discussion scene, when the camera cuts to Barry replying, "Bullshit!" he's suddenly standing much farther from Dick than in the previous shot.

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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?

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Crazy Credits

Catherine Zeta Jones is only credited in the final cast list and not in main credits

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Alternate Versions

Beverly D'Angelo appears as a woman attempting to sell her husband's vintage record collection to John Cusack's character. The scene was deleted but included with several others on the DVD release.

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Connections

Referenced in 500 Days of Summer (2009)

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Soundtracks

I'm Glad You're Mine
Written and Performed by Al Green
Courtesy of Hi Records
Under License from EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets

User Reviews

One Of The Few Good Movies This Year

"High Fidelity" was a breath of fresh air in an otherwise very ordinary year of cinema. Continually I have been disappointed with the quality of this years movies from all over the world, not just the regulation Hollywood trash.

Admittedly my hopes weren't that high, but I still left the cinema feeling like I got what I paid for with "High Fidelity" (this is very rare these days). John Cusack was his usual competent self, and Tim Robbins sensational in his small but humourous part.

No masterpiece, but well worth watching.