After finishing it, here are my pros and cons, without really spoiling anything, that you might consider to know whether you might be into the show or not:
Pros:
- Gotta love that they chose Zoe as the main character and kept the original name given to Cusack in the original movie, Rob. First of all, not only did they give the role of a white man to a black actress, but Zoe also happens to be Lisa Bonnet's daughter, and Lisa was in the first movie.
- The acting is great. Zoe's come a long way as an actress, and David Holmes, Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Kingsley Ben-Adir are all great as well in their respective roles. I love Da'Vine as the replacement for Jack Black's role in the original, and while I criticize the lack of diversity for Zoe's love interests in the show (listed in the cons), I applaud them for giving the previously two biggest roles to black women when they were originally held by white men.
- It was to be expected, but the soundtrack is fantastic. The music selection is very eclectic and it's highly doubtful you will not discover something you like from watching the show.
- For the most part, they succeeded in adapting the original movie. It's the same plot, the characters offer a crazy amount of similarities, etc. The TV show just allowed the writers to add more meat around the bones.
- The main character, Rob, is just as unlikeable in the TV show as he (Cusack) was in the movie, and that's perfect.
- A few episodes were focused on storylines that aren't in the movie, and they were absolute gold. I won't spoil, but I thought those were incredibly well written and needed as a statement to make it known that the show is NOT the movie. It is an adaptation, not an exact copy.
- They did well in adapting it to our time, where the casual music fan is different now than they were in 2000, for instance. Times have changed, and so has the portrayal of High Fidelity.
Cons:
- Gotta hate that nearly all of Zoe's love interests in the show are plain white men. Considering that the show takes place in Brooklyn, a more diverse cast of love interests would have been more realistic. Hollywood has a lot of difficulty going all in on diversity sometimes, where if the main character is black, they have to balance it out with an overwhelmingly white supporting cast. It's the case here too for the most part.
- The one thing that they REALLY failed to emphasize in the show compared to the movie is the use of Top 5 Lists. Aside from the Top 5 breakups list, which the story is built around, the characters really don't start making them until the later half of the season. And that's major, because the movie really focuses on the differences between their characters through these top 5 lists. Music having changed a lot in the last 20 years, the writers had an infinite amount of possibilities in making their characters argue about different top 5s. This is something that a LOT of music heads, me included, can relate to. It might seem like nothing, but it sure feels like a crucial element is missing.
- I talked about actors who did well earlier, but Rainbow Francks, who plays Rob's brother, was pretty bad. Multiple scenes would have been better without him.
To summarize, I'm very partial towards the movie, and while not perfect, I thought they could have done a LOT WORSE with this adaptation. I went in expecting it to be awful, and was pleasantly surprised.
I'd give it a 7.5/10, and I think it's definitely worth the watch, especially if you are a big fan of music, or romance/anti-romance stories.
