(rated R, 120 mins.)
Opens March 31
In this somewhat biting romantic comedy, Rob Gordon (John Cusack) is the owner of a semi-failing record store in Chicago where he sells music the old-fashioned way – on vinyl. He’s a self-professed music junkie who spends his days at Championship Vinyl with his two employees Dick (Todd Louiso) and Barry (Jack Black), who by the way, do an outstanding job as his sidekicks.Although they have an encyclopedia knowledge of pop music and are consumed with the music scene, it’s of no help to Rob whose needle skips the love groove when his long-time Girl Laura (Iben Hjele) walks out on him. (By the way, she’s cute to look at, but just how does she pronounce that name??) As Rob examines his failed attempts at romance and happiness, the process finds him being dragged kicking and screaming into adulthood.

This adaptation of Hornby’s 1995 cult comic novel is strange, quirky, even bizarre sometimes but engrossing at all times. The acting is immediately sympathetic (think loser characters like “There’s Something About Mary”).

Side note: Boston screenwriter Scott Rosenberg did the original script but it was re-written by Cusack and his “Grosse Pointe Blank” collaborators D. V. DeVincentis and Steve Pink, changing only the story’s locale from London to Chicago. And, the writers got to do something most writers do not: Include tunes to weave with their story line. The soundtrack includes 60 musical cues, probably making a CD four-pack which will sell better than the movie’s boxoffice returns!