Cusack is one of Hollywood's masters of dry wit, capable of uttering a line full of sarcasm and sharp jest with a straight face and an undeniably comic inflection. When the shtick suits his nature -- as it does here, and as it did in Grosse Pointe Blank -- he's incapable of giving a bad performance. And even when the movie runs on the shallow side and has little to offer, such as Pushing Tin, Cusack is often the film's saving grace.

      Those who liked Grosse Pointe Blank as a film and not just for Cusack's performance will find this just as good. Similar to that 1997 movie, High Fidelity is a romantic comedy which posits Cusack's character in a struggle to come to grips with his no longer youthful self. This time, though, the focus is much less obvious. Cusack is Rob Gordon, the owner and proprietor of a Chicago-area all-vinyl record store, Championship Vinyl. Faced with imminent separation from his longtime girlfriend Laura (played with class by Danish actress Iben Hjejle), he copes with the nebulous throes of a midlife crisis. His parents are no help -- they were counting on Laura to produce grandchildren -- and his two employees are preoccupied with their own lives. Rob strikes out on his own, calling up each of his former girlfriends to find out what went wrong and to take stock of his life as it currently stands.

      Mixed in with all of this is Cusack's narration, and the important part is that it is indeed "mixed in." Unlike The Story of Us and Down to You, which actually broke away from the story in order for the stars to talk to the camera in character, High Fidelity has Rob Gordon doing narration in sync with the film's rhythm. Furthermore, it connects with the film itself because Rob highlights his past relationships by way of a David Letterman Top 10-style list, and many of the film's record store scenes feature Rob and his two charges bantering back and forth about Top 5's of just about anything. "Top five side one track one's," a character asks, and other characters chime in with the best songs that were listed #1 on side 1 on their records. Not only does it fit the characters, but it fits mainstream audiences of a nation that is constantly being defined by numbered lists and bullet points.

      The characters and the actors that play them epitomize that nation and its generation of twenty- or thirtysomethings. They are the quintessential pre-midlife Americans, in the way that the cast of Empire Records was filled with quintessential Gen-Xers. At the head of this list are Jack Black and Todd Louiso as Barry and Dick, Rob's two employees. They're simply over the top, sardonic and neurotic respectively, and they provide the perfect backdrop for Rob's character and his adventures.

      Also noteworthy are the women who play Rob's ex-girlfriends. They are a full array of personalities, from a shy introvert played by Lili Taylor to an extravagant and glamorous beauty played by Catherine Zeta-Jones. All are laughable in context, and made further so by their complete and utter lack of similarities. If not for Rob's narration, there would be no plausible way for one man to like and date all of these women. In the end, though, the primo love interest is Laura, and Iben Hjejle plays her as a breath of fresh air against the scrambling mid-life antics of Rob and Company. It's an approach that significantly enhances the "romantic" in romantic comedy.

      For a John Cusack fan -- and not just the moderate "he's all right" kind -- it doesn't get better than this. Cusack is in his element, clearly enjoying a role that fits him like a glove (possibly because he helped write the script, albeit with no less than three co-writers). Director Frears tailors the film around Cusack and feeds it plenty of forward momentum -- it doesn't slow down or get mired in undesirable mushiness. In this sense, fans get the most Cusack for their buck, and for that, High Fidelity is worth every penny.

Craig Roush, 2000