Better title: "The Top Five." Of course you'd ask
... "The top five what?" And that's just where the
advertisers would love to have you. Well, the top
five most humiliating break ups for John Cusack, as a
matter of fact.
Cusack, mug to camera, provides self-depreciating
commentary to his dumpy little life as a used
record store
owner/operator on the more urban streets of Chicago.
Fun flashbacks provide entertaining history of the
top four heartbreakers as Cusack tragically lives
through break up number five in real time.
Cusack's two loser employees (Jack Black and Todd
Louiso) are hilarious. "I can't fire these guys, I
hired them for three days a week and they started
showing up everyday ... that was three years ago."
Louiso is especially lovable as the bald headed
pathetically charming geek. Black is ever on the
attack aggressively defending his musical edicts.
But it's Cusack's cynical rambling that gives
"HI-FI" it's biting irony. Here are just a few juicy
quotes. The ever so diplomatic... "You f***ing bitch,
let's work it out." And then on the human attraction
phenomena... "It's what you like, not what you are
like." Then there's the crude, yet clever ... "My
guts have sh** for brains." Lastly, the nagging
film-opening question ... "Which came first the music
or the misery?" (referring to the depression itself
vs. the depressing songs meant to ease/enable).
Cusack spends much of the film trying to understand
why he's such an "F***ing a**hole."
A little slow getting going, but fills out nicely
with rough-toothed dialogue. Eclectic music snobs are
sure to have a good time.
Danish actress Iben Hjejle (who plays the lead
female role) sums the film well, "It's the most
direct script about men's struggles with
relationships I've ever read. It really surprised me
that it has this honesty and I think it's very
unusual for an American film to deal with subjects
like this."
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