Director: Stephen Frears
Cast: John Cusack, Iben Hjejle, Todd Louiso & Jack Black
Rob is the owner of an independent record store who is fed up with working with his two employees while going through his fifth-worst break-up in his life. He categorizes his life in "Top 5"s, which indicates that he analyzes and overanalyzes everything in his life - which is exactly what he spends the film doing. Instead of starting discussion with Laura, he reconnects with his top four break-ups instead to discuss what exactly he'd done wrong.
This is the second book-to-film by Hornby that I've seen, and I have to admit that the transition went well. Before my viewing, I was dubious that the story could be set anywhere but Crouch End, and couldn't believe that the cynical British outlook on life could be duplicated even by Cusack, King of Cynicism. But it worked! It was a great relief.
Beyond that, though, I'm not really sure why this movie is so highly regarded. I agree, it's an entertaining movie, but most of its charm in my opinion is in the plot and characters. I'm sure some of you out there are big fans of the film, and I'd like to hear your opinion.
Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):
- This is the eighth film in which John Cusack and Joan Cusack have appeared together. The others are Class(1983), Sixteen Candles (1984), Grandview, U.S.A. (1984), Broadcast News (1987),Say Anything... (1989),Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) and Cradle Will Rock (1999)
- In the Hungarian dubbed version, Barry and Rob are discussing Reservoir Dogs (1992) instead of Evil Dead II (1987), because that film was almost unknown in Hungary that time. "Reservoir Dogs" was also the film discussed in a similar scene in the novel.
Lastly, I want to apologize for giving you false information in a recent post. I stated that I believed I was done with the string of bad films on the list. Unfortunately, my next post will (almost certainly - I've never seen it) prove to continue that trend of awfulness.
Okay, Richie. This is one of my favorite films, but I think you're right that most of the charm is in the plot and the characters. I think this was one of the movies to jumpstart Jack Black's acting career?
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think it resonates with a lot of people because they've felt a lot like Rob Gordon before in some instance or another. He kind of takes everything to a level of absurdity that a normal person would take something to in their head, but he lets it out without becoming too much of a caricature of a real person.
That's my theory, anyway. If you read the book, I think he seems like a lot less of an asshole, or at least a more justified asshole. I really enjoyed the book, and I treat this movie like chicken soup for if I'm having a bad time.
I can understand that. I really did like the movie, but not as one of my all-time favorites. If it was on TV, I'd definitely watch it again. But yeah, it was so similar to the book that maybe I just didn't care too much what was going on, since I already knew!
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