(In fairness, it was Bruce Springsteen’s idea, and it’s hard to argue with a cameo from The Boss.) The first half of the movie is shuffled along by Rob ranking his previous girlfriends in order of heartbreak, a numerical game he plays with his record store buddies about his favorite albums. To get over this break-up, Rob decides to revisit a few of his exes for the purpose of deflecting any blame for the demise of his relationships. High Fidelity opens with Rob listening to 'You're Gonna Miss Me' by The 13th Floor Elevators as his live-in girlfriend, Laura, is moving out of their apartment. But over almost two hours, High Fidelity repeatedly tries to make clear to the audience what an asshole Rob is, with him even admitting at one point: “Did I say and do these things? Yes. Cusack is so inherently charming that he lends Gordon more sympathy than the character deserves. Every time he flashes his sad, puppy dog eyes, it produces an instant flashback to his hopeless romantic teenage roles of the 1980s. There’s a bit of Rob’s flawed personality that gets lost in translation from the book’s depiction to the one on screen, partly the result of the character being played by John Cusack and the fact that, well, the guy is just so damned likeable. This was something that was understood by Hornby, but often goes over the heads of the movie’s fans. Rob Gordon was, in fact, a terrible human-a sociopathic womanizer, a stalker ex, and a shitty boyfriend. But, despite having a lifestyle music geeks could aspire to, Rob Gordon was not a character to be admired. Gordon was either the coolest nerd or the nerdiest cool guy. After all, from the perspective of guys who still live at home, Rob had an enviable lifestyle: he worked the dream job of owning his own record store, he was by default the least socially awkward member of his social circle which included Jack Black and Todd Louiso, and, most impressive to romantically inept music fanboys, he somehow managed to routinely bed women exceedingly hotter than himself. To the sorts of “nice guys” who grew up valuing pop culture knowledge over athletic ability, the character became something of a cult hero. High Fidelity introduced the world to Rob Gordon, a sad-sack music obsessive who is perpetually mid-break-up.

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