Recently, I read High Fidelity on my Kindle.
I had watched the movie a while back and remembered it fondly, so I decided to read it on my Kindle.
After reading the book, I thought it seemed a bit different than what I recalled form the movie, so I netflixed it and watched it on Wednesday.
Warning: Potential Spoilers Abound — I’m comparing a book and a movie so that should be fairly obvious.First off, the film and book start off with the top 5 all time breakups of Rob (played by John Cusack in the film). In the film, he only does 4, the 5th was “just to edge Laura out”, but he eventually changes his mind and puts her in the top 5. The one they take out is the girl from a relationship he sabotaged, stealing her from “the perfect couple” — they had later gotten back together and when he met up with the two of them.
The location is moved from London to Chicago, which is probably why they downplayed the interaction between Rob and Marie De Salle as she was supposed to be an American Singer in jolly olde.
They deleted a scene (as in it is in the deleted scenes) of Rob finding the most impressive record collection of his lifetime and him turning it down because of his morals.
Also in the deleted scenes is a longer version of the interview where he agonizes over his All Time Top 5 Records.
The filmmakers added a couple scenes where Rob sets up his own record label for two young kids, which seemed really odd and pointless.
Lastly, they changed the ending around. The marriage talk was the end of the book and it happened after the DJing, rather than before as it did in the movie.
Verdict: Read the book if you want a character filled with a bit more self-loathing who doesn’t necessarily have a happy ending; watch the movie if you want a lovable screw up that everything works out for in the end.