DVD
Upcoming Release Calendar
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade
Recent DVD/Video Releases
60
9
xx
Across the Hall
56
Adam
37
Amelia
73
Amreeka
35
Babysitters, The
70
Big Fan
57
Boys Are Back, The
81
Bright Star![]()
71
Bronson
60
Brothers at War
55
Brothers Bloom, The
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
64
Che
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
23
Couples Retreat
54
Dare
68
Departures
19
Downloading Nancy
55
Endgame
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
27
Gamer
50
Give Me Your Hand
46
Halloween II
73
House of the Devil, The
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
17
I Hate Valentine's Day
26
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
83
In the Loop![]()
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
41
Little Ashes
80
Lorna's Silence
33
Love Happens
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
xx
Ministers, The
67
Moon
59
More Than a Game
49
New York, I Love You
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
28
Pandorum
68
Paranormal Activity
85
Passing Strange![]()
63
Perfect Getaway, A
44
Peter and Vandy
54
Pontypool
35
Post Grad
30
Saw VI
79
Serious Man, A
36
Serious Moonlight
76
Soul Power
40
Spiral
39
St. Trinian's
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
47
Time Traveler's Wife
43
Tru Loved
61
Trucker
47
Weather Girl
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
High Fidelity
EMAILPRINTBuena Vista Pictures

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 35 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 21 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy
Written by:
Nick Hornby (book)
D.V. DeVincentis
Steve Pink
John Cusack
Directed by: Stephen Frears
Release Date:
Theatrical: March 31, 2000
DVD: September 19, 2000
Running Time: 113 minutes, Color
Origin: USA / UK
Summary
RATING: R for language and some sexuality
Starring John Cusack, Iben Hjejle, Todd Louiso, Jack Black, Lisa Bonet, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lili Taylor, and Joan Cusack
In this biting romantic comedy, Rob Gordon (Cusack) is the owner of a semi-failing record store in Chicago, where he sells music the old-fashioned way -- on vinyl. His needle, however, skips the love groove when his long-time girlfriend, Laura (Hjejle), walks out on him. As he examines his failed attempts at romance and happiness, the process finds him being dragged, kicking and screaming, into adulthood. (Touchstone Pictures)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Cheri Dangerous Liaisons Dirty Pretty Things Liam Mary Reilly Mrs. Henderson Presents The Grifters The Queen
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Causes us to leave the theater quite unreasonably happy.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
A guaranteed pleasure for anyone who ever loved pop music, owned a record collection or suffered in love
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
With its knowing take on men, messed-up romance and music, is like one long, hook-filled pop song for the eyes.
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
It's so spry and lively and warm that you want to dance to it.
Film.com Tom Keogh
The extent to which Black and Louiso help make this film terribly witty and caustic and worth every minute of its almost two-hour running time is immeasurable.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
Witty, exquisitely fine-tuned screen adaptation of Nick Hornby's 1995 novel
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Zac Crane
The film is so much like the book, it might as well come with a bookmark to hold your place when you step outside to use the restroom.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Sad, funny, brilliant.
New York Post Lou Lumenick
The quirky High Fidelity really deserves being called the first must-see movie of the century.
Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday
The movie is, to borrow Rob's phrase, unassailably cool.
New York Daily News Jami Bernard
When director Stephen Frears worked with (Jack Black), he must have yelled "Let 'er rip!" instead of "Action!"
Read Full Review >San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris
Like laughing into a mirror for 113 minutes.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
(Cusack) has never been more effective onscreen.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
All the pieces hang together. You can't say that about many movies.
Newsweek David Ansen
Cusack is a master at playing smart, frazzled, self-flagellating hipsters, and the movie, propelled by his arias of angst, lets him strut his best stuff.
Film.com Elizabeth Weitzman
(Cusack)'s genius, however, is in his continual ability to be the most likeable of everymen.
Read Full Review >TNT RoughCut Tom Cappello
High Fidelitys hip structure and offbeat characters provide consistent laughs and a good time.
Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
A smart, funny, and youth-savvy relationship film.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Marc Caro
Easily cracks the top five list of reasons to go to the movies these days - and defies categories in doing so.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
It's aimed squarely at a young dating audience, and is not likely to be hugely captivating for anyone out of that demographic.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard
Even if it sometimes skips, it's consistently wittier and more idiosyncratic that most studio movies.
TV Guide Steve Simels
One of the sharpest and emotionally resonant romantic comedies in what seems like years.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
The humor about male neurosis doesn't try to remind you of Woody Allen at every turn.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
For all its music-trivia affection, High Fidelity is finally a pretty thin melody.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Ultimately too slight for its own good: It's a genial little doodle, light on plot and heavy on quotable, pithy observations.
USA Today Susan Wloszczyna
Isn't all that romantic and is only half as funny as it thinks it is.
Slate David Edelstein
It's almost criminal the way the central relationship of High Fidelity has been left such a void.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Manohla Dargis
High Fidelity wants to be hip, but it's comically square.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The meandering story and channel-surfing style prevent it from gathering the emotional momentum it would need to get below the hero's skin and let us know what really makes him tick.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Amy Taubin
It may seem perverse to fault a movie for being too accurate, but when surface accuracy is coupled with tunnel vision about self and society the result is a wee bit irritating.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 21 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Harold D. gave it a1:
Watching this movie was like a 90 minute glimpse into hell. I hear "You mean you don't have Blonde on Blonde??" twenty times a day at work, I don't feel like hearing it on screen. Even worse is it's coming out of Jack Black's mouth. This movie is for hipster's only. If you have any kind of intelligence or self-respect rent something else.
Richard G gave it a0:
The worst movie I’ve ever seen with the single most annoying character ever created. It seemed like your average boring Cusack movie in the first few minutes but once the bald sensitive guy with the musical taste of every failure I’ve ever known came in, I nearly lost it. If you can relate to any of the three main characters in this movie you have bigger problems than being a fan of High Fidelity.
Michael S. gave it a10:
Surprisingly enjoyable. He makes a very interesting narrator and keeps you interested in this journey. And to Jessica A: that is why you are still single.
Jessica A. gave it a 3:
From a female's perspective who had read the book before the movie, I did not enjoy it at all. The beginning is very slow, and didn't catch my attention. Who wants to know about another pathetic PIG of a man, or should i say CHILD? Women get enough of this immaturity from real men, we don't need to hear about someone else. I do have to say that the end helped me understand men a little better but I still thought it was poor. Maybe it's because the only thing Rob (the narrator) talks about is Music and how it relates to his pathetic life.
Flat23 gave it a 10:
This is definitely one of THE greatest and funniest and bestest films of all times...i am glad most people here agree with the 10 point vote, as anything else would be WRONG.
Lawrence P. gave it a 10:
To John Cusack, Stop doing movie's like America's Sweethearts...Keep up the good work.
Alec D. gave it a 10:
It deserves every point John Cusack is incredible and the movie itself is hillarious and appeals to any man who has ever been in a relationship.
