High Fidelity (2000)

Actors: Catherine Zeta-Jones (actress), Tim Bevan (producer), Drake Bell (actor), Lili Taylor (actress), Iben Hjejle (actress), Susan Hegarty (actress), Tim Robbins (actor), John Cusack (actor), Jack Black (actor), Penny Marshall (actress), Bruce Springsteen (actor), Joan Cusack (actress), Harold Ramis (actor), John Cusack (producer), Liza Chasin (producer),

Plot: High Fidelity follows the 'mid-life' crisis of Rob, a thirty-something record-store owner who must face the undeniable facts - he's growing up. In a hilarious homage to the music scene, Rob and the wacky, offbeat clerks that inhabit his store expound on the intricacies of life and song all the while trying to succeed in their adult relationships. Are they listening to pop music because they are miserable? Or are they miserable because they listen to pop music? This romantic comedy provides a whimsical glimpse into the male view of the affairs of the heart.

Keywords: 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, adolescent-boy, affection, anger, answering-machine, apartment, apartment-building, attempted-theft
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Music, Romance,
Taglines: A comedy about fear of commitment, hating your job, falling in love and other pop favorites.

Quotes:

Barry: [performing at the record release party] Rob, thank you for that kind introduction. We're no longer called Sonic Death Monkey. We're on the verge of becoming Kathleen Turner Overdrive, but just for tonight, we are Barry Jive and his Uptown Five.

Rob: How does he do it, you ask. How does [stops, whispers] how does an average guy like me become the number one lover-man in his particular postal district? He's grumpy, he's broke, he hangs out with the musical moron twins... [shrugs]

Rob: Liking both Marvin Gaye and Art Garfunkel is like supporting both the Israelis and the Palestinians.::Laura: No, it's really not, Rob. You know why? Because Marvin Gaye and Art Garfunkel make pop records.::Rob: Made. Made. Marvin Gaye is dead. His father shot him.

Rob: Should I bolt every time I get that feeling in my gut when I meet someone new? Well, I've been listening to my gut since I was 14 years old, and frankly speaking, I've come to the conclusion that my guts have shit for brains.

Laura: I'm too tired not to be with you.::Rob: What, so if you had a bit more energy we'd stay split up, but things being as they are, with you being wiped out and all, you want to get back together? Is that it?::Laura: Yeah.

Laura: Listen, Rob, would you have sex with me? Because I want to feel something else than this. It either that, or I go home and put my hand in the fire. Unless you want to stub cigarettes out on my arm.::Rob: No. I only have a few left, I've been saving them for later.::Laura: Right. It'll have to be sex, then.::Rob: Right. Right.

Barry: Rob, I'm telling you this for your own good, that's the worst fuckin' sweater I've ever seen, that's a Cosby sweater. [Imitating Cosby] A Cosssssssby sweater. Did Laura let you leave the house like that?

Rob: I can't fire them. I hired these guys for three days a week and they just started showing up every day. That was four years ago.

[first lines]::Rob: What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?

Rob: It would be nice to think that since I was 14, times have changed. Relationships have become more sophisticated. Females less cruel. Skins thicker. Instincts more developed. But there seems to be an element of that afternoon in everything that's happened to me since. All my romantic stories are a scrambled version of that first one.