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High Fidelity is a 2000 romantic comedy-drama film. It is directed by Stephen Fears and it is based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Nick Hornby.
Synopsis[]
A record store employee, Rob Gordon, is suffering from a bad breakup and tries to piece together where he went wrong before the woman he loves leaves his life forever.
Plot[]
Rob Gordon, the owner of local record store, Champion Records, experiences a harsh breakup with his girlfriend Laura, who leaves his apartment one night. Rob, who breaks the fourth wall throughout the film, reveals his five worst break ups (in chronological order): Allison Andrew, Penny Hardwick, Jackie Alden, Charlie Nicholson, and Sarah Kendrew. Allison was his "girlfriend" in junior high school which lasted a total of "six hours" (two hours after school for three days). One day, he discovers her kissing his friend Kevin Bannister, abruptly ending their relationship.
Rob's second lover was Penny Hardwick. In high school, the two were close, but anytime Rob tried to make a move beyond kissing, she would rebuff him. He ultimately broke up with her, only to learn that she moved onto another boy whom she slept with after three dates. In the present, Rob works at Champion Records, alongside his only two employees, whom Rob said were only supposed to work three days of the week, but show up every day as they have nothing better to do. Dick, a quiet and slightly sheltered man with calming tastes, and Barry Judd, a loud and obnoxious man who occasionally scares customers away after mocking their tastes.
Rob mentions that his third break up was with Charlie Nicholson, a talkative artist and socializer whom he always felt inadequate around, feeling that she was mentally superior to him. Charlie ultimately left Rob for another man, much to his consternation. He later flunked out of school and started working in a record store. Laura later calls him asking if she can come over to get some of her things from him, though he accuses her of wanting to be completely removed from him. Rob's fourth break up was Sarah Kendrew, who was also rebounding from a break up of her own. The two mutually felt calm with each other, only for Sarah to unexpectedly meet someone else, leaving Rob angry and distraught.
After Dick invites Rob to go see local singer Marie De Salle, Rob gets a call from his mother and he tells her that he and Laura broke up. She angrily calls him out by declaring "You meet someone, she moves in, you go!" Rob, Dick, and Barry see Marie and immediately fall in love with her cover of Peter Frampton's "Baby, I Love Your Way". Barry methodically invites Marie to come visit their record store. When Laura comes over to get her things back, she and Rob get into an argument where she explains that he hasn't changed since their relationship began and that she wanted to move on.
Marie visits Champion Vinyl where she and Rob have a friendly conversation. However, Rob also calls mutual friend Liz who tries to comfort him over his break up with Laura. When Liz informs Rob that she isn't sure about "this Ian guy," Rob becomes furious. He quickly figures out that Ian is Ian "Ray" Raymond, a yuppie that lived above his apartment and had frequent sex which he and Laura would comment on. Now stuck with the image of the two of them sleeping together, Rob admits that his fifth break up, Jackie Alden, had little effect on his life and that Laura has now snuggly entered the top five of his worst break ups.
The next day at work, Liz enters and calls Rob an asshole. Rob reveals that he met Laura when he used to DJ at a club and that he would offer her song suggestions. He deduces that Liz spoke with Laura who told her that Rob; slept with someone else while she was pregnant, that this act lead to her getting an abortion, that he borrowed four grand from her, and that he admitted that he was unhappy and thought of seeing other people. Rob explains that Liz willingly gave him the money, that she urged him into saying he was unhappy, and that he didn't know about her pregnancy or termination until after the fact. Though he does admit that he slept with someone else, though he never says with whom.
Rob decides to call his past loves to get an idea as to what he did wrong. He calls Allison and gets her mother. She tells Rob that she has never heard of him and that Allison is married to Kevin now. Rob is overjoyed by this news as it means that it had nothing to do with him. He next gets with Penny and has a decent time with her until he asks about his rejection. She admits that she wanted to wait to have sex in college and that the boy she slept with was due to happenstance (she reluctantly agreed to it), and angrily leaves. Rob once again concludes that it wasn't his fault. Rob skips over Charlie and gets with Sarah who has become clingy and paranoid, regretting her break up with Rob and having become an eccentric who tests drugs for a living. Rob leaves a message for Charlie.
On a particularly heavy day at Champion Vinyl, Dick meets a woman named Anaugh Moss and asks her out. Shortly afterwards, Rob and Barry catch two teenage youths named Vince and Justin trying to shoplift some records and CDs, though they manage to stop them. That evening, Laura visits with Rob again and he asks her about his relationship with Ian and whether they have had sex. She says they haven't "yet". While happy, he later begins to question this statement. It is revealed that Rob had begun seeing Marie due to sharing similar tastes and pain. One morning, the two realize that they still pine for their past loves and they amicably break up.
Rob gets together with Laura again and asks her point blank if she has had sex with Ian. When she infers it, he becomes angry and begins to constantly call her, demanding that she leave Ian due to his phony philosophy and emotions. Liz later intervenes and tells Rob that he needs to move on. He later gets a call from Charlie asking him to come to her place for a dinner party. Ian visits the record store where Rob fantasizes about telling him off and beating him up. At the dinner party, Rob starts to see Charlie as less of an intellect and more of a snob who loves to hear herself talk. He finally asks her why she broke up with him and she claims that the other man she started to see sounded more "sunnier".
After another day of work, Rob finds Laura in his apartment looking at some of his favorite top 5 things, claiming that this will be the last time they talk. Rob admits his top 5 things he misses about Laura: Her sense of humor, her character, her smell, how she walks, and her bedroom habits. The next day, Barry and Dick are listening to Vince and Justin's tape. Amazed that it sounds good, Rob approaches the teens, going by the name The Kinky Wizards, and offers to manage them under his label Top 5 Records, despite Barry pointing out that they do not have a label yet. Laura suddenly calls Rob with the news that her father died and wants him to attend the funeral.
After the wake, Rob comes to terms with the fact that he was never fully committed to Laura and that he always had one foot out the door. He finally apologizes, not just for her father's passing, but for his behavior and leaves the funeral. Laura follows him and admits that she broke up with Ian because he couldn't offer her that same comfort and they have sex in the car. The two of them officially get back together and Rob's life begins to improve somewhat as he now is more open and vocal with Laura. He begins to find conflict when music journalist Caroline Fortis comes asking about his work and finds that Laura has started a promotion for a new EP release party for The Kinky Wizards' I Sold My Mom's Wheelchair.
Rob becomes flabbergasted and tries to have the whole thing canceled, but Laura informs him that now that an opportunity has fallen into his lap, he needs to embrace it. He calls back Caroline and confirms that they will have the single and EP ready for release. Rob asks Laura if she is willing to marry him, but she only replies with a polite thank you.
At the release party, the Kinky Wizards EP is a success and Rob reluctantly brings out Barry's group Sonic Death Monkey, believing them to be a terrible act. Barry, who has since changed the name to either Kathleen Turner Overdrive, or Barry Jive and the Uptown Five, performs a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On", revealing himself to be an genuinely talented singer, much to Rob's surprise. Rob now compiles a new top 5 for Laura as he now has found a way to make her and himself happy.
Cast[]
- John Cusack as Rob Gordon
- Drake Bell as young Rob Gordon
- Iben Hjejle as Laura
- Todd Louiso as Dick
- Jack Black as Barry Judd
- Lisa Bonet as Marie De Salle
- Catherine Zeta-Jones as Charlie Nicholson
- Joan Cusack as Liz
- Tim Robbins as Ian "Ray" Raymond
- Chris Rehmann as Vince
- Ben Carr as Justin
- Lili Taylor as Sarah Kendrew
- Joelle Carter as Penny Hardwick
- Natasha Gregson Wagner as Caroline Fortis
- Shannon Stillo as Alison Ashmore
- Sara Gilbert as Anaugh Moss
- Chris Bauer as Paul
- Bruce Springsteen as himself
- Alex Désert as Louis
- Dick Cusack as Minister
- Harold Ramis as Rob's dad (deleted scene)
- Beverly D'Angelo as Tan woman (deleted scene)
Trivia[]
- The original novel was set in London and the main character's name was Rob Fleming. The film moves the setting to Chicago and changed his name to Rob Gordon. Author Nick Hornby didn't mind the changes.
- Bob Dylan was supposed to cameo, but Bruce Springsteen did it instead.
- This is the eighth film to star siblings John and Joan Cusack together. The first seven were Class, Sixteen Candles, Grandview, U.S.A., Broadcast News, Say Anything, Grosse Pointe Blank, and Cradle Will Rock. They would later appear together in Martian Child and War, Inc.
- Iben Hjejle's first American film.
- During the scene where Rob and Barry discuss the use of the word "yet", they use the movie Evil Dead II as an example. In the Hungarian dub, the movie used was Reservoir Dogs, which was also the film used in the novel.
- Artie Lange auditioned for the part of Barry, even though the part was written with Jack Black in mind. Even then, Black nearly turned it down before accepting it.
Video[]
Television series[]
- Main article: High Fidelity (TV series)
In 2018, a television series based on the movie was announced and was released on February 14, 2020 on Hulu. It was initially announced for Disney+ before being moved over due to its mature content. The series starred Zoë Kravitz, Jake Lacey, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, and David H. Holmes.
The series was cancelled after one season, lasting only ten episodes.
