High Fidelity (2000)
90%RT Audience Score: 90%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
3 wins & 22 nominations total
The deft hand of director Stephen Frears and strong performances by the ensemble cast combine to tell an entertaining story with a rock-solid soundtrack.
High Fidelity is like a mixtape of all the best rom-coms and indie music rolled into one. John Cusack’s charm is on full display as he navigates the ups and downs of love and heartbreak. The film’s witty dialogue and clever visual gags make it a joy to watch, and the soundtrack is a must-listen for any music lover. It’s a movie that will make you laugh, cry, and maybe even inspire you to make your own top five lists.
Production Company(ies)
Horizon Pictures,
Distributor
Touchstone Pictures
Release Type
Streaming, Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Double Door – 1572 N. Milwaukee Avenue, West Town, Chicago, Illinois, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for language and some sexuality
Year of Release
2000
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:DTS Dolby Digital SDDS
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 53m
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Language(s):English, Danish
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Mar 31, 2000 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 8, 2003
Genre(s)
Comedy/Romance
Keyword(s)
Worldwide gross: $47,126,295
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $81,736,589
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,116
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 8,913,478
US/Canada gross: $27,287,137
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $47,327,241
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,101
US/Canada opening weekend: $6,429,107
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $11,150,745
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 927
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $30,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $52,032,473
Production budget ranking: 762
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $28,019,487
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $1,684,629
ROI to date (est.): 2%
ROI ranking: 1,387
Iben Hjejle – Laura
Todd Louiso – Dick
Jack Black – Barry
Lisa Bonet – Marie DeSalle
Catherine Zeta-Jones – Charlie Nicholson
Director(s)
Stephen Frears
Writer(s)
Nick Hornby, D.V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, John Cusack, Scott Rosenberg
Producer(s)
Tim Bevan, Rudd Simmons
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
3 wins & 22 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (165) | Top Critics (54) | Fresh (150) | Rotten (15)
High Fidelity, with its knowing take on men, messed-up romance and music, is like one long, hook-filled pop song for the eyes.
February 10, 2014 | Rating: 3.5/4
Steven Rea
Philadelphia Inquirer
TOP CRITIC
It is still a bit wimpy and sugary, but it’s definitely entertaining, and the translation to American accelerates the tempo refreshingly.
February 10, 2014
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
A film pragmatic enough to concede that almost every relationship is doomed, but romantic enough to realize that it’s worth it to carry on in spite of that fact, High Fidelity is one of the smartest and funniest romantic comedies of the past few years.
February 10, 2014
Nathan Rabin
AV Club
TOP CRITIC
When happiness does arrive in this movie, it has the air not of something that you reach, like your top speed, but of something that you give in to, like baldness or old age.
February 10, 2014
Anthony Lane
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
Cusack has ineffable charm, but he keeps it tuned at the lowest possible frequency.
February 10, 2014
Manohla Dargis
L.A. Weekly
TOP CRITIC
As for Mr. Cusack, there’s nothing potential about his stardom any more. He’s the self-doubting, self-flagellating, self-ironic soul of “High Fidelity,” and he’s great.
February 10, 2014
Joe Morgenstern
Wall Street Journal
TOP CRITIC
Few films capture the healing power of music or the harsh reality of love & break-ups.
August 24, 2021
Charlotte Harrison
Charlotte Sometimes Goes to the Movies
Like a male version of ‘Bridget Jones’ – with the lead reduced to a nauseating cipher who espouses mediocre, gender politics jargon.
January 27, 2019 | Rating: 3/5
PJ Nabarro
Patrick Nabarro
It’s not perfect, but boy, is it ever accurate and insightful.
April 7, 2015 | Rating: 7/10
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy
High Fidelity is an extraordinarily funny film, full of verbal and visual wit. And it is assembled with immense skill.
February 10, 2014
Philip French
Observer (UK)
As a film about males it`s amazingly insightful for women. The soundtrack`s another great plus. I just adored this film.
February 10, 2014 | Rating: 5/5
Margaret Pomeranz
sbs.com.au
This slickly scripted, knowingly played and cameo-strewn comedy stands on its merits as an Alfie for the millennial generation.
February 10, 2014 | Rating: 4/5
David Parkinson
Radio Times…
Plot
Thirty-something Rob Gordon, a former club DJ, owns a not-so-lucrative used record store in Chicago. He not so much employs Barry and Dick, but rather keeps them around as they showed up at the store one day and never left. All three are vinyl and music snobs, but in different ways. Rob has a penchant for compiling top-five lists. The latest of these lists is his top-five break-ups, it spurred by the fact that his latest girlfriend, Laura, a lawyer, has just broken up with him. He believed that Laura would be the one who would last, partly as an expectation of where he would be at this stage in his life. Rob admits that there have been a few incidents in their relationship which in and of themselves could be grounds for her to want to break up. To his satisfaction, Laura is not on this top-five list. Rob feels a need not only to review the five relationships, which go back as far as middle school when he was 12, and try to come to terms with why the woman, or girl as the case may be, left him, but also, in the words of Charlie Nicholson, number four on the list, “what it all means” for why he has ended up where he is, which is nowhere, personally or professionally, close to what he envisioned. He also has to come to terms with what it means that Laura has moved on to Ian Raymond, a man for whom neither had any respect when they were together.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Jack Black gives a breakout performance in High Fidelity.
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