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Mark Jenkins’ review of High Fidelity (“Love and 45s,” 3/31) was, roughly, about as accurate as NATO’s “Map-Guide to the Embassies of Belgrade, 1999.”
Jenkins complains that the film “bungles the musical aspect” of Nick Hornby’s novel. He spends a good portion of his review griping about a scene where surly record clerk Barry replaces mopey record clerk Dick’s in-store “now-playing” selection, Belle and Sebastian, with “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves.
This was indeed a grave departure from the corresponding episode in the book, where Barry replaces Dick’s selection with…”Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves.
I’m not saying that I thought the movie perfectly adapted the novel. But I was pleased that it preserved so many of the dead-on details of the novel, like Barry and Dick’s music selection battles.
We expect more than lazy, inaccurate nitpicking from the Washington City Paper’s cultural cue-givers—especially when reviewing a film that’s largely about the joy of nitpicking music and films.
Adams Morgan