Throughout his career, John Cusack has established one very consistent characterization. In films like “Say Anything …,” “Better Off Dead,” and “Grosse Point Blank,” Cusack plays men who came of age in the 1980s, in various stages of disillusionment. His newest film continues in this tradition.

“High Fidelity” is the story of a record store owner named Rob (Cusack), as he attempts to sort out his history of romantic disasters. This theme has been explored ad nauseam, but through razor-sharp insight “High Fidelity” breathes new life into it.

By no means is “High Fidelity” a romantic comedy in the vein of a Sandra Bullock vehicle. Instead, it is an insightful, challenging look at how inflated expectations and paranoid delusions often mask relationships.

For half of the film, Rob looks into the camera and talks directly to us. Through these monologues, the film is able to utilize some of the clever prose from the best-selling book by Nick Hornby.

The film begins with Rob’s live-in girlfriend Laura leaving him. From there, Rob takes us on a journey through the top five breakups of his life. Along the way, Rob tries desperately to understand why women eventually always leave him.

In the meantime, Rob spends his days at his store “Championship Vinyl.” One of the most delightful parts of “High Fidelity” is the way the film perfectly captures the tragically hip, elitist culture of a vintage record store. Watching the scenes in the record store is like staring into the ass-end of Iowa City.

Rob’s employees, Dick (Todd Louiso) and Barry (Jason Black), are perfect characterizations of record store groupies. Most of the funniest scenes in the film take place in the record store, as the trio engage in heated musical snobbery and endlessly sort things into top five lists.

“High Fidelity” takes a harshly realistic look at the inner workings of relationships. When Rob tracks down various women who have left him in the past, he comes to see things about them that his obsession wouldn’t allow him to in the past.

Even one of Rob’s most painful breakups, Charlie (Catherine Zeta-Jones), may not have been all that Rob thought she was.

The juxtaposition of humor and heartache in the film makes it feel very real. Just as we’re laughing at a scene in the record store, a tearful phone call from Laura saying her dad has died pulls the rug out from under us.

As could be expected, the soundtrack to High Fidelity features a diverse collection of artists from Bruce Springsteen and the Velvet Underground, to lesser-known bands like The Beta Band and Stiff Little Fingers. Springsteen even makes a cameo appearance in one of Rob’s dreams.

Unlike almost any other movie, “High Fidelity” refuses to sell out its characters to a fairy-tale ending. Rob hasn’t figured everything out by the end of the film, but he might just be a little closer.

4 1/2 Stars

Rating based on a 5 Star scale.

Ben Godar is a senior in sociology from Ames. He is assistant arts & entertainment editor of the Daily.