Having re-watched it, I’ve recently discovered that High Fidelity is a film I used to like.

The fitting problem is that I’ve changed and now see practically all of the characters as either kinda crumby, irritating or, in the case of Barry, just utterly awful.  And, none of them change.  Barry does something nice at the launch party but it’s just an excuse to peacock.  Rob has a neat line about mixtapes at the end but that’s not the same as a character arc.

I can’t even tell why, or even if, these guys really like music.  They like talking about it in such a way that you could replace it with anything involving nerdy knowledge (Fever Pitch (1997) anyone?) and they act like they enjoy the gigs they attend… but music should be at the heart of this film and it just isn’t.

Maybe the film has real no heart at all.  Maybe the sight of a douche being handed everything on a plate gets in the way.

At least the employees of Empire Records (1995) seem to genuinely know what a joy music can be.