High Fidelity, directed by Stephen Frears, adapted from the award winning author Nick Hornby is arguably a romantic comedy, although it deals with both these aspects in a bitingly honest story of one male’s life. Released in the summer of 2000 it stars John Cusack who plays main character Rob Gordon, who had then had previous success with hits such as Con Air and Being John Malcovich and since with America’s Sweethearts and Serendipity. Rob Gordon is the owner of a failing record store in Chicago, when his girlfriend Laura walks out on him. He then decides to evaluate all his attempts at romance and happiness in his life so far, whilst going through this toe curling laugh out loud process Rob ultimately finds himself maturing (whilst listening to an excellent soundtrack of pop songs and classics.)
The impressive supporting cast includes Catherine Zeta Jones (The Mask of Zorro) Tim Robbins (Shawshank redemption) and Jack Black who had before only had stardom through his rock duo ‘Tenacious D’ and insignificant cameo’s in films such as ’Dead man walking’, although Catherine Zeta Jones and Tim Robbins are definitely seen as stars in the acting world they are only a bonus to an already great movie; Tim Robbins’ plays a sensational small humorous part in the film, which only adds to its amusing appeal. Although I hasten to add that the big names did help the movie with its recognition, although I still feel it is underrated in the ‘classics’ section of cinema. Whilst it was merely nominated for a Golden Globe, formerly unknown actor Jack Black did however win a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Best Supporting Comedic actor. I watched the film at home on DVD, having never made it to the cinema to watch it when it first came out (perhaps saying something about its promotional success…) I have owned it since it made it to DVD release, seeing as this is where it really started to become heavily publicised. With its superb dialogue and wholly talented cast ‘High Fidelity’ is perfect for a family/group audience or for anyone who has ever had their heart broken; looking for an impressive yet undervalued cult classic.