2. High Fidelity
If Harry lived through how men perceive romance, Rob Gordon was someone who explained it. "It was as if breasts were little pieces of property that had been unlawfully annexed by the opposite sex. They were rightfully ours and we wanted them back" is a prime example. Okay, so that's maybe not the most romantic line in the whole film, but it is a great example of how High fidelity is pretty much the whole spectrum of women, sex, and relationships, according to man. Moving to Chicago notwithstanding, Stephen Frear's film of Nick Hornby's novel is a masterclass in 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' adaptation. Even the prose of Rob's wonderfully honest first person narration is delivered by John Cusack looking directly at the camera, and speaking directly to the audience. In a role reversal to When Harry Met Sally, here it is the men in the audience nodding their heads in agreement, and the women who are learning a thing a two. In another role reversal, men finally had a film they could wrap themselves up in a duvet and eat ice cream to (figuratively speaking, of course). When his long term girlfriend moves out, it is Rob who is desperate for the happy ending, and so looks back into his relationship history whilst pondering an even more prominent question; "Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?" Throughout the film he catches up with four of his top five all-time ex's (and one of their mothers), and confides in us the discoveries he makes along the way. It's fair to say that some discoveries are a bit more obvious than others, and some are a bit more biased, but unlike many other films which rely on cliche and not noticing the rain, Rob's journey is one that is actually believable.