High Fidelity (2000)

Idea: Upon being dumped by his long-term girlfriend, Laura (Iben Hjejle), Rob Gordon (John Cusack), the owner and manager of an elitist record store, Championship Vinyl, decides to revisit his Top 5 worst break-ups to figure out why women keep leaving him. Jack Black and Todd Louiso also star as Rob's strange employees.

Secret: I just realized today what the double entendre in the title referred to. I only got half of it before. Nick Hornby, who penned the bestseller on which this film is based, seems to really like double entendres (e.g. About a Boy). Also, he always seems to revel in creating these absolute asses as protagonists, and he can endear them to you. Genius. Staggering genius.

So, yes, Rob Gordon is not a good person. Well, not particularly good. But, as always, Cusack with his disarming charm combined with Hornby's original talent, and its adaptation for the screen by D.V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, John Cusack, and Scott Rosenberg will win you over. Time and time again they cast their spell over you. In the film, as in life, it is the little things that get you. In fact, they just kill me. It's always the little things.

Of course, Championship Vinyl would be deathly boring without Black and Louiso to lend a hand. Black is his usual larger-than-life self (best in a supporting role, I feel), and Louiso's Dick has an inferiority complex to be reckoned with. Charm, again. All charm.

Oh yeah, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Bruce Springsteen, Lisa Bonet, Tim Robbins, Lili Taylor (who I love!), Sarah Gilbert, among others, all do their part to bring together this adventure into the mind of a music obsessed introspective nerd. Yes, when you love anything as much as Rob loves music, you are a bit of a nerd.

Stephen Frears' direction is as charming and active as the cast. I say active for it is the opposite of passive. He seems to get right in there with his characters, feeling and fighting and flirting along the way. Simple wonderful. He does it in all his movies, in fact, and quite the impressive list they do make (My Best Friend's Wedding, The Hi-Lo Country, and Dangerous Liaisons, just to name a few). I love that he does not restrict himself to any particular genre, and his eclectic nature gives power to his creations.

As Rob says, "it's not what you're like, it's what you like". I agree. Call it shallow if you want, but you will have to admit that you prefer similarities in people. You like that they like the same stuff as you (be it religion, movies, books, television, music, cooking, what have you) because it reinforces your feelings of self-worth and gives you something to talk about. So Rob is a bit of an ass. So what? This movie is all charm, and it will not fail to win you over.