For obsessives, 'High Fidelity' sings a different tune

John Cusack (left) and Jack Black hang at the record store in 2000’s “High Fidelity.” (Buena Vista Pictures/MovieStillsDB.com)

"High Fidelity"
Released March 31, 2000
Directed by Stephen Frears
Where to Watch

If you've read these columns regularly, it will come as no surprise to learn that I am a huge fan of "High Fidelity."

The inclination to go through the history of film and try to figure out what were the best movies that came out every weekend of the year to create a "mixtape" of cinema is precisely the kind of obsessive-compulsive personality trait that I share with Rob Gordon (John Cusack), the lead character of the film version of "High Fidelity." It's that feeling you get when something you really enjoy turns into an unnerving passion that you so strongly identify with that you have trouble having everyday conversations with people about anything else. 

For some people, it's their favorite sports team. Lately, it's politics. For me, it's movies, and for Rob, it's music.

Based on the 1995 novel by Nick Hornby, "High Fidelity" introduces us to Rob while he's in the midst of a breakup with his longtime girlfriend, Laura (Iben Hjejle), spiraling him into an emotional downturn that forces him to confront the romantic failures of his life. Rob's the owner of a vintage record store, Championship Viynal, where he spends his days relating to and arguing with his employees (and fellow rock obsessives), Barry (Jack Black) and Dick (Todd Louiso) about life and music. Mostly music.

Hornby's novel was optioned by Disney nearly immediately upon release, where it promptly sat in development for several years. Cusack had just completed work on 1997's "Grosse Pointe Blank," where he plays a hitman back in his childhood neighborhood for a high school reunion. One of the film's successes was its soundtrack, which Cusack helped curate with his friends and co-producers D.V. DeVincentis and Steve Pink, and featured many 80s new wave and punk music. That passion led executive Joe Roth and music supervisor Kathy Nelson to recommend "High Fidelity" to Cusack to produce, write, and star in.

As Cusack, Pink, and DeVincentis began writing their own adaptation, they switched the location of London in the novel to Chicago in the states. Cusack also recruited Frears to direct the project, following their work together on 1990's "The Grifters."

"The only difference with the record store that I grew up in is we were obsessed with British music, and the characters in the Hornby novel were obsessed with soul, rhythm, and blues," Cusack said in Consequence's oral history of the film. "But once you switched those, it was the same guys. It was just a male confessional. And also it was about a love affair with music. Themes about how music is autobiographical in our lives. How deep and meaningful music is to people. So it's a really fun and soulful thing to do."

Another great decision made by the filmmakers was the decision to cast Jack Black as Barry. Black had previously played several bit parts in many projects (including 1996's "Mars Attacks!" and a role on the cult TV show "The X-Files") while raising his profile as one half of the musical hard rock comedy duo, Tenacious D. 

The only problem was Black almost passed on it. At the time, he was gaining momentum with Tenacious D, and the actor was concerned that another big music-related gig might derail what he'd built.

"If I'm really being honest with myself, I was terrified of failing," Black told Consequence. "I was terrified of being bad in this movie and also terrified of working with Stephen Frears. But Stephen called me in, even though I had passed. We talked about it a little bit. I told him about my fears, and he just thought it was funny I was passing. Because it was obvious to him and to anyone in my life that this was a no-brainer."

Black got over his anxiety and joined "High Fidelity," and of course, everybody was right about it. It was a role that complemented and accelerated his entire comedic persona to the largest audience to date of his career. He steals the movie, and he's been a star ever since.

I saw "High Fidelity" during its original release when I was in my mid-twenties, about a few years shy of Rob's likely age in the film (it's not stated, but Cusack himself is nine years older than me). As a longtime comic book collector and early cinephile, Rob's obsessions were a revelation to me, one of the first times I saw that version of myself on the screen outside of Kevin Smith movies. It was also an age where I had a real job, disposable income, nightlife, and most importantly, a youthful arrogance that comes with cultural literacy. 

"What really matters is what you like, not what you are like," Rob tells us during one of his many onscreen narrations that break the fourth wall. "Books, records, films – these things matter. Call me shallow, but it's the fucking truth."

As a single white 24-year-old male at the time, it was a line that struck me like a sledgehammer. A skeleton key that would help me unlock the mysteries of human connection.

It took me a couple years to realize that ethos was complete bullshit, an easy excuse to condescend to anybody who wasn't like me or disagreed with me. While my obsessions remain the same, I watch, read, and listen not to add another essential to my cultural resume but to give myself over to the potential of worldly experience and self-realization. 

Fortunately, it took a lot less time to see Rob as a self-involved asshole. Part of his journey realizes the effects his behavior had on others and how those people acted in ways that had nothing to do with him, much to his surprise. But we only see one small step in the evolution of his maturity. When Laura takes him back at the end of the film, we get the sense that Rob has grown a little, but if we're honest, the couple could be right back to a dysfunctional relationship in less than three months. Rob will likely endure more heartbreaks even as he becomes more self-aware about it. "Do I listen to pop music because I'm miserable, or am I miserable because I listen to pop music," he asks us.

I see the Rob Gordon of "High Fidelity" as a cautionary tale now, one of misunderstood art and youthful ignorance. I watch it now as a story of what could have been if I had not managed to curb my more self-destructive impulses. But few other movies have seen me better, before or since. At one point, Dick goes over to Rob's apartment to invite him out, only to find Rob sitting in the center of the room with piles of records all around him. 

It's an exchange that may not mean much to the masses but tears at the heart of every obsessive collector like a knife. It's no wonder why "High Fidelity" made such an impression on the types of obsessives who write film criticism, and then later, many other people as they discovered it through home viewings.

"It sounded like a duff idea on paper," wrote Ian Freer for Empire. "Uprooting Nick Hornby's decidedly Brit' n'blokey world-view to the throb of Chicago was riddled with the potential for disaster in the transatlantic crossing, with all the subtleties and textures blended out. However, against the odds, director Frears and co. have fashioned a funny, involving smart meditation on the prattle of the sexes by retaining most of the incident and attitude of the novel and adding a broader, more accessible appeal."

"High Fidelity" opened at fifth in the weekend box office upon release, grossing $6.4 million but falling behind new releases "The Road to El Dorado" and "The Skulls," as well as reigning box office champ, "Erin Brockovich." "High Fidelity" had some staying power with respectable week-to-week decreases, so even though it fell out of the top ten quickly, the movie enjoyed a 21-week domestic run, topping out at $27.2 million. DVD sales, rentals, and cable reruns allowed the film to pick fans every year. Today, the original "High Fidelity" has a 90 percent or overrating from both critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.

Twenty years after its release, "High Fidelity" was transformed into a Hulu television show starring Zoe Kravitz as Robyn "Rob" Brooks that modernized the setting to contemporary New York City while deepening the story introduced in the novel and movie. While the show was well-received, it was canceled by Hulu after one season. 

Considered with the modern sensibilities, hindsight has given the movie "High Fidelity" a complicated legacy with Rob's behavior and personality. Still, it remains an achingly honest portrayal of young adulthood for singles, how we see ourselves, and how we see the world. There's fun to be had and to lose oneself in our obsessions, but it's also a warning.

Next Week: "2001: A Space Odyssey"