10 Great Movies That Break The Fourth Wall

Sporting John Cusack's best on-screen performance and a fresh, honest approach to the typical rom-com formula, High Fidelity (based on the book of the same name by Nick Hornby) uses the fourth wall break to help protagonist Rob Gordon (Cusack) express his feelings about love, music, movies, depression and emotional pain.

The film follows Rob after he's been dumped by his latest girlfriend (Iben Hjejle) and decides to contact his previous girlfriends in hopes of figuring out what's wrong with him as a person. In his words, to find out why he's "doomed to be left alone."

It's a painful funny, relatable and bittersweet movie, with Rob's frequent ramblings offering an insight into the mind of a man who is as romantic and intelligent as he is immature and self-destructive. From lists about his top ten favourite songs to a list detailing his most horrid break-ups, Rob is like an open book, holding nothing back and saying whatever's on his mind.

He may not be completely likeable in places, but in a lot of ways that's the point - he's a guy who makes stupid, human mistakes, and with the wall breaks it's impossible not to sympathise with him as the plot progresses.