High Fidelity

A vinyl record store owner (John Cusack) agonizes over his recent breakup with his girlfriend (Iben Hjelje) and his general failures with women. Transplanting Nick Hornby’s novel from London to Chicago, writers Scott Rosenberg, D.V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink and Cusack turn the tale into a sort of grunge-rock Annie Hall, with the hero dissecting his romantic life in long, witty monologues to the camera. Under the canny direction of Stephen Frears, the resourceful Cusack gives perhaps the performance of his career. The cool, self-possessed Hjelje is a good foil for Cusack—Daryl Hannah with brains—and a slew of fine actors round out the cast: Joan Cusack, Tim Robbins, Lili Taylor, Sara Gilbert, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and (especially) Jack Black and Todd Louiso as Cusack’s slacker employees.