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Created Mar 21, 2008 02:47PM PST • Edited Mar 21, 2008 02:47PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Perfect 5.0

   This stands as one of my favorite films of all time. The simple beauty of the dialog, story and characters are a complete package that hits the viewers emotional center and is cathartic to someone with my sensibility, which is one of release through empathetic art (music or film). There are some drawbacks as far as casting (Laura, Joan Cusack) but it doesn’t moot the impact of the film or the weight of the dialog.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   The collective performance quality is pretty stellar for a movie of this sort. Being a character driven film, this quality is all the more important and well delivered.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

   John Cusack is amazing as Rob Gordon. Empathetic and aggravating as a character tearing himself apart with regret. Evoking such varied emotion from a viewer is a sign of an excellent performance

6. Female Stars Good 3.0

   Iben Hjejle as Laura is, at best, forgettable and at most, annoying. She didn’t detract from the movie, though had her acting been any worse, she very well could have.

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

   Catherine Zeta-Jones along with the other supporting women in the film and Rob’s past, are really well done. You understand each of them for what they are as characters. Joan Cusack never ceases to piss me off and she is the only reason this section isn’t 5.0.

8. Male Costars Perfect 5.0

   Jack Black, Tim Robbins and Todd Louiso are amazing support and drive for John Cusack’s “Rob Gordon.” Such a wide array of characters that really pull you into the story weather you love or hate them. I defy you not to love “Dick” even though, in present day, he wouldn’t be shy, he’d be the asshole walking around constantly shouting “their first album was better” as part of the hipster elite who now have self-esteem.

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

    Excellent… but you can tell where they were time crunched and had to settle for a mediocre take: When Jack Black is leaning over behind the counter digging out the record he has no intention of selling, Cusack and Louiso are visibly laughing behind him and out of character.

12. Play Perfect 5.0

    Like Hornby’s book, the dialog is everything. Breaking the fourth wall and speaking directly to the audience is a powerful tool that can also be awkward if done at all wrong, but here it is used effectively and it benefits the audience, the actors and the adaptation.

13. Music Perfect 5.0

    It opens up with “You’re Gonna Miss Me” Performed by The Thirteenth Floor Elevators and continues with great music all the way through. The appearance by Bruce “the Boss” Springsteen adds weight to the already wonderful soundtrack that is interlaced with the story of the film.

14. Visuals Very Good 3.5

    Basic but effective. Dream sequences and flashbacks are done well and the direct-to-audience dialog is done effectively through close-ups and steady-cam shots which also show the landscape. The most beautiful shot in the film is when Rob is trying to light a cigarette in the rain after being dumped by Charlie.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 1.7

17. Sex Innocent 1.5

18. Violence Gentle 1.0

19. Rudeness Salty 2.5

21. Reality

    Natural 1.0

    Given that there is nothing supernatural here, I’d say it is a film heavily grounded in realistic human experience with blunt emotional resonance.

22. Circumstantial Natural 1.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0