High Fidelity

Written by: D.V. Vincentis & Steve Pink & John Cusack and Scott Rosenberg Starring: John Cusack, Iben Hjejle, Todd Louiso, Jack Black, Lisa Bonet, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lili Taylor, Joan Cusack, Tim Robbins

The problem with this too-clever-by-half adaptation of Nick Hornby’s excellent novel is that it is all about telling, not showing. It seems that half the picture consists of John Cusack speaking directly to the camera, describing or commenting on things that we are about to see, things that we just saw, or simply making lists ranking the events we are being told about. Given the deep suspicion that I harbor towards voiceover narration in general, it is no surprise that I view on-camera narration with even greater alarm.

What seemed revolutionary when Woody Allen did it in “Annie Hall” now seems gimmicky, and whatever charm the technique may retain is quickly dissipated by the number of times it is used. Familiarity, in this case, really does breed contempt. Which is not to say that the picture, directed by Frears with a great deal of energy, is without virtue. A romantic comedy for the layabout crowd, it stars Cusack as Rob, a self-absorbed, self-pitying--not to say annoying--pop music fanatic of impressively slackeresque dimensions. He runs a shop that specializes in old records and offending customers, and conducts an on again-off again relationship with his stunning girlfriend Laura (Hjejle). Laura, a woman of talent and brains as well as beauty, finds Rob’s lack of ambition and commitment a bit wearing.

Unfortunately, so do we. Cusack, and intelligent and appealing star, does well by the lines, but unfortunately, that is what they are--lines, in most cases lifted directly from Hornby’s book. What we end up with is more like an HBO comedy special than a movie. Cusack mugs and pouts and cracks wise, but like most comedy specials, the picture lacks any real narrative drive; the conflict often seems more between Cusack and the audience than between Cusack and his costars. He is trying to crack us up and doesn’t always succeed. What seems intended as an attempt at intimacy actually ends up distancing us from Rob, and that in turn undermines the picture. To be fair, there are a number of funny lines and situations, which I think we can attribute mostly to Hornby, not the gaggle of writers who share credit for the script (disclosure: I actually have read the book) But what works on the page doesn’t always do so on screen; in a nutshell, the book was better. Hornby was making some points about human nature, romantic relationships, and the compromises associated with growing up. The movie is trying to also, but mostly by reading it to us verbatim. It describes everything instead of letting us see it for ourselves.

You can only mine so many laughs from the increasingly arcane “top-five” lists the boys are always making. It might have been better if Cusack just did a reading of the novel for us. Books on tape, say. If you have to explain everything that happens in a movie, I submit that you are not using the power of the medium to its greatest capacity. If adapting a novel to the screen was as simple as picking its hundred best lines, then anyone could do it, and we know that's not true. The role of Rob must have been irresistible to Cusack. He got to leave behind all the annoyances of being rich and famous and play a regular guy who is only marginally successful. In the true antihero manner, he attempts to make us love him despite his flaws. I never did.

In fact, just about every other character in the film seemed more interesting and appealing than Rob; I kept wanting to see more of them, and I tended to root for them more. Dick (Louiso) and Barry (Black), Rob’s only occasionally helpful assistants, are great characters. (Black, by the way, steals every scene he is in; he just about walks away with the picture.) And girlfriend Laura blows Rob away in the depth department. I can appreciate Cusack’s admiration for the novel, and his attraction to the lead character, and I am sure that he loves pop music as much as the next guy. But as Cusack plays him, Rob got on my nerves a bit, a nearly fatal flaw since the picture depends a great deal upon his putative charm. “High Fidelity” captures the bohemian lifestyle of the marginally employed very well, and the use of the Chicago (transplanted from the novel’s London) locales is first rate. The soundtrack is killer too, as you might expect. I particularly enjoyed a cut from a group called the Beta Band, which is funny because the scene is one in which Rob declares that he will sell five copies just by playing it in the store--and he will; I would have bought one had I been there.

That's the kind of nice touch that works well in the movie. There are smart people inside struggling to get out, and they really do love their music with a passion that is pretty darn close to obsession (Rob is busy rearranging his extensive record collection by autobiographical association). But if I want to spend two hours watching a man trapped in a state of perpetual adolescence, all I have to do is look in the... well, never mind. (4/1/00)