April 9, 2000 -- The games of love that men and women play with each other are silly and funny, but they also cause a lot of emotional damage. Both aspects of these games are explored with unusual vividness in "High Fidelity."

John Cusack (who appeared in "Being John Malkovich"), one of Hollywood's most underrated actors, gives another nuanced performance as a Woody Allen type of character, Rob Gordon, a neurotic self-centered, big city resident preoccupied with love and sex. Also like Woody Allen, he delivers monologues, asides actually, all during the movie.

These monologues are witty, sharp, incisive comments that reveal much about his character and his outlook on life. Gordon is a music critic, and as a critic he stands apart from the world and judges it. He is obsessed with "Top Five" lists, such as the top five songs of all time and the top five rejections he has received from women. He recites the latter list during the movie and the audience relives it with him. He dwells upon his emotional wounds as if understanding them will heal him.

The dialogue between characters in the movie (some of which was also written by Cusack, one of several writers of the screenplay, also listed as a co-producer. The screenplay is based on the book by Nick Hornby) is similarly sharp and witty. The dialogue is like the incisive guitar riffs of Eric Clapton, the words dart quickly and unerringly at their targets, but occasionally they also glide and soar with the giddy exuberance of simply being. They were written lovingly by people who love to talk. There is a great deal of dialogue in this movie, but it is exceedingly good dialogue.

There is also a love of music in the film. Gordon owns a record store, and I don't mean CD's or DVD's either, but old vinyl records. He and his two clerks, the manic Barry (played by Jack Black of "Cradle Will Rock") and the quiet, gentle Dick (Todd Louiso, the baby sitter in "Jerry McGuire") are as emotionally arrested as Gordon, and they are also critics. Both of them, like Gordon, are drifting along, barely connected to the rest of the world.

When Gordon breaks up with his latest girlfriend, Laura (Iben Hjejle), he is forced to take stock of his life by trying to figure out why he always gets dumped by women, why he can't be in a lasting relationship. The film is a comedy, and a funny one, but it does not put any soft edges on the pain of breaking up. This film has one of the strangest marriage proposals you will ever see. There's a great scene at the end when one of the film's main characters breaks into song, and yes, that is the actor singing a good rendition of one of the top five makeout songs of all time, Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get it On." Oh, and while we're at it, the screenwriters missed one of the top five songs about death of all time, the Rolling Stone's "Paint it Black."

While this isn't one of the top five movies of all time, or even this year, it is well worth a trip down to the theater, especially if you are tired of dumb films like "Hanging Up" or "Reindeer Games." This film is certainly not dumb. It rates a smart B.

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