Stephen Frears directs John Cusack, Iben Hjejle and Jack Black in this comedy drama about a record shop owner who, after a break-up, begins to realise the true cause behind of all his issues with women.

I was a massive fan of John Cusack and an avid reader of Nick Hornby when this was released. It was the sort of movie that both mirrored and informed my personality in many ways. Chandler Bing. Banky from Chasing Amy. Rob the depressed record store owner here. It isn’t, in retrospect, a particularly healthy bunch of role models or fictional peers. Cusack’s Rob is essentially a covert study of “nice guy” toxic masculinity. Too self absorbed and defined by his own ennui to realise what he has. How responsible he is for the sadness in his life and those he professes to love. Very truly male, very truly human. Nowhere near as cool as I thought he was in my early twenties. I’d still build my own second hand DVD and Blu Ray shop around the business model presented in the book and this pitch perfect, insightful adaptation… but I’d never categorise this as a Top Five “romantic comedies for men” any more. It is much more a wake up call for all our immature, self centred shitty behaviour. Viewed through that lens it is a richer yet less entertaining watch. Hard to know whether I really can laugh either at or with some of the iconic funny moments now I have some life experience, distance and context. Still the soundtrack slaps (almost equalling Grosse Pointe Blank’s mix tape supremacy) and Jack Black turns in his only acceptable performance here. He’s meant to be grating for once… context and self awareness are everything.

9

Perfect Double Bill: Good Vibrations (2012)

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