r/movies • u/shopdog • 24d ago

Question What happened to John Cusack?

Looking at his IMDB page and he's in a bunch of crap (rated 5.0 or lower) movies and a Chinese produced movies (judging from the original titles and posters).

He was in a lot of my favorite movies from the 80s until the teens and then just seemed to disappear.

Did something happen to his career? Self inflicted?

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651

u/SourArmoredHero 24d ago

I don't know but I love him in High Fidelity.

215

u/MisterEcks 24d ago

Definitely in my top 5 movies.

110

u/WySLatestWit 24d ago

Top 5 movies with top 5 discussions!

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u/pudding7 24d ago

"Autobiographical."

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u/lrjackson06 24d ago

No fucking way...

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u/[deleted] 24d ago

[deleted]

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u/PerspectiveEven4890 24d ago

Not chronologically?

2

u/prescod 24d ago

With a bullet!

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u/TScottFitzgerald 24d ago

WatchMojo took their whole thing

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u/stray1ight 24d ago

It's a damn near perfect film. And when most of us learned that Jack Black can really fuckin sing.

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u/abbott_costello 24d ago

Jack Black is the perfect caricature of a record store / vinyl guy. Cusack too but Black is on point.

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u/stray1ight 24d ago

I loooooooved the book, and I feel like Cusack was PERFECT to embody the character and his inner monologue.

Todd Louiso was also PERFECT as Dick, and Tim Robbins CRUSHED being "what fucking IAN GUY" with that condescending attitude.

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u/Doctor_Cowboy 24d ago

One of the few instances where Americanising a British work didn’t completely tank it

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u/moscowramada 24d ago

I miss seeing that side of Black, the dialed-down character-based comedy.

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u/lexattack 24d ago

The scene when he’s imagining the different scenarios of what he’d like to do to Ian and him choking out Jack Black are two of the funniest scenes ever.

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u/stray1ight 24d ago

Yesssssssss!

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u/Sunstang 24d ago

Even better in Grosse Pointe Blank.

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u/SkillzMagee 24d ago

Popcorn

32

u/Sunstang 24d ago

That punk is either in love with that guy's daughter or he has a newfound respect for life.

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u/The_Kwizatz_Haderach 24d ago

I’m either in love with your daughter or I have a new found respect for life

20

u/IndyO1975 24d ago

10 YEEEEEEAAAARS! 10!!!!! 10 YEARS!

3

u/shwarma_heaven 24d ago

Poodle puncher

1

u/_Divan 24d ago

Sure.

1

u/elmwoodblues 24d ago

Anything w Angelica Houston, but yeah

1

u/PreferenceContent987 24d ago

Underrated. I never see it on tv and hardly ever hear it mentioned

18

u/lemoche 24d ago

my breakup depression movie during the 00s… (watched to often)

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u/polishprince76 24d ago

I watch it in my Cosby sweatah.

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u/Poonurse13 24d ago

A Cosby sweatah!

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u/Canadairy 24d ago

The movie is surprisingly close to the novel, aside from being set in the US instead of the UK. 

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u/TylerDurden0110 24d ago

Great love letter to Chicago in the 90s.

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u/SourArmoredHero 24d ago

Yeah I think they did a great job staying relatively true to the book.

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u/polishprince76 24d ago

He is much more of the fucking asshole in the book that he claims to be in the movie. Cusak tamed the worst of it down. I still love both and read the book multiple times.

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u/im_totally_working 24d ago

I saw the movie before reading the book, then watched it again after reading it. It’s actually INCREDIBLY well adapted. It’s always stuck with me that there’s a scene in the movie where Rob gets a phone call and starts to jot down an address before Liz comes in and calls him a fucking asshole. When first watching the movie it just seems like something for him to be doing to be interrupted, but that phone call is actually a whole chapter or two in the book that they couldn’t fit into the movie.

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u/Affectionate-Bee5433 24d ago

Love this movie!

5

u/l3tigre 24d ago

Go back to playing your SAD BASTARD music!

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u/SourArmoredHero 24d ago

I just want something I can IGNORE!

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u/naus226 24d ago

Absolutely love this movie.

5

u/shwarma_heaven 24d ago

Better off dead! (And requisite Say Anything)

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u/GTFOakaFOD 24d ago

High Fidelity is amazing for a million reasons, most of all John Cusack.

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u/lexattack 24d ago

High Fidelity, 1408, America’s Sweethearts, and Hot Tub Time Machine are some of my top re-watchables and comfort movies. He’s may not be a “box office star” but he’s been in great movies.

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u/gwarster 24d ago

That movie aged so poorly.

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u/SourArmoredHero 24d ago

Care to explain? I don't think it has.

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u/gwarster 23d ago

Rob Gordon blames women for all of his problems and treats them like shit the whole movie only to learn at the end that his problem the whole time was his lack of ambition and not his lack of empathy. He’s a dick to everyone around him and learns nothing, but somehow it all works out for him in the end. The movie reeks of misogyny and the story just lies to itself about how people grow and change.

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u/SourArmoredHero 23d ago

I think it's an honest, self-aware character study about emotional growth, commitment, and the dangers of nostalgia. Rob's not rewarded for bad behavior - he is forced to confront it, and only through self-awareness and effort does he get a chance at something better.

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u/gwarster 23d ago

I disagree. In the end he concludes that his lack of ambition was his problem. He somehow wins Laura back, but never actually apologizes for stalking her. He never apologizes for any of his abhorrent behavior with his other exs either. His entire journey of discovery was badgering his exs begging the question of “what went wrong?!” while the obvious answer was that he’s the problem.

His absurdly inflated ego never gets checked and instead gets rewarded with no consequences. I remember loving that movie and looking up to his encyclopedic knowledge and taste in music, but there is no universe in which a normal, emotionally healthy woman would reward his behavior with unearned forgiveness.

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u/SourArmoredHero 23d ago

Rob is the problem - that’s literally the entire point. His whole arc is realizing that his relationships failed because of his selfishness, emotional immaturity, and fear of commitment. He spends most of the movie in denial, but by the end - and from what I remember, he starts taking responsibility, even if he’s still very much a work in progress.

As for Laura, I wouldn’t say she 'rewards' him - she gives him a chance after he shows some self-awareness. It’s not framed as a grand romantic victory, more like ‘Okay, you might actually be growing up, let’s see if you follow through.’ And honestly, he doesn’t get off easy - he loses relationships, gets humiliated, and has to confront some hard truths about himself.

About the stalking thing - yeah, that part doesn’t age well. No argument there. But I think the movie critiques his behavior more than it endorses it. It never pretends he’s a good guy, just a deeply flawed one trying (imperfectly) to be better.

Basically, I think High Fidelity isn’t saying ‘Rob deserves love no matter what,’ it’s saying ‘If you don’t change, you’ll keep ending up alone.’

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u/goodthingihavepants 23d ago

watched it for the first time recently and i agree with all your takes. i still enjoyed the film but yikes it feels pretty incel-coded through today’s lens and the fact he ends up back with Laura at the end made me roll my eyes.

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u/gwarster 23d ago

100%. I didn’t want to go as far as calling him an incel, but you’re right. He only tracks down his exs because god forbid he looks inward as to why nobody wants to be with him.