Video Picks Archive

September 20, 2000
This Week's Video Picks
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Reviews by Matt Heffernan <matt@filmhead.com>

This week my picks are High Fidelity (2000 - ) and Say Anything... (1989 - ).

The first film this week stars John Cusack as the owner of a record store who just got dumped by his girlfriend (Iben Hjejle). With little help from his odd employees (Jack Black and Todd Louiso), he reflects on his love life and why it has consistently failed him since adolescence. Tightly based on the wonderful novel by Nick Hornby, High Fidelity provides great insight into the masculine mind with highly original characters and incredibly funny dialogue. Inexplicably released in early spring, this film has no chance of winning any major awards, but Black's virtuoso performance just might stick in the Academy's collective mind.
Full review from April 4, 2000

Of course, Cusack is great, just as he has always been. His first starring role was in Rob Reiner's The Sure Thing (1985), but he was established as a top leading man in 1989, with Cameron Crowe's Say Anything... -- my second pick. Cusack plays Lloyd Dobler, a kick-boxing enthusiast who starts dating his high school class valedictorian (Ione Skye) right after they graduate. This was the 1980s teen film that ended the genre, appropriately enough at the end of the decade, with its perfect depiction of human emotions, creating a tone that is at once funny and realistic. It was Crowe's directorial debut, and remains his best work even after such impressive follow-ups as Jerry Maguire and the current Almost Famous.

Here's some merchandise for sale at

High Fidelity (2000)	-- VHS
High Fidelity (2000)	-- DVD
High Fidelity, a novel by Nick Hornby	-- Paperback
High Fidelity, a novel by Nick Hornby	-- Audio Cassette (read by the author)
High Fidelity: Soundtrack	-- Compact Disc
Say Anything... (1989)	-- VHS
Say Anything: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	-- Compact Disc

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