Why the occasion of this list? Because Rob Gordon compulsively makes Top Five lists about everything in his life. Rob is the central character in the film version of High Fidelity. They say it's hard to make a great movie from a great book. Against the odds, that is exactly what happens here. By retaining the spirit of Hornby's book (as well as much of the dialogue that appeared in the text), the film perfectly translates to the big screen.

John Cusack finds comfort in his record collection in High Fidelity

John Cusack stars as Rob, and as we meet him, he has been dumped by his girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjejle). No sooner does she leave than Rob begins speaking directly to the camera, recounting his Top Five Heartbreaks. We then follow Rob as he sinks into a depression. Even without the breakup, his life would depress anybody. His days are spent at Championship Vinyl, a grungy little record shop he owns. His coworkers - timid Dick (Todd Louiso) and belligerent Barry (Jack Black) - spend their days creating Top Five Lists and making fun of customers who they believe have poor taste in music.

While pining for Laura, Rob starts having "one of those what-does-it-all-mean? things." All his romantic confusion bubbles to the surface. He finds himself attracted to a folk singer named Marie (Lisa Bonet), but he's really only attracted to her because he wants to be thanked in a musician's liner notes. He then decides to track down the women who caused his Top Five Heartbreaks to ask them what went wrong. They include the fellow frequent dumpee (Lili Taylor) who then dumped him and the sophisticated bombshell (Catherine Zeta Jones) who left him for another man. Eventually, Laura reenters the picture, which just makes everything harder to sort out.

The genius of Hornby's book was the way he made Rob so emotionally stunted. Here's a guy who loves music and worships musicians. His outlook on life is filtered through music (one of Rob's qualms is that as relationships grow, they stop affecting him with the same force as hearing a great Marvin Gaye song). The whole novel showed how this character learns to live in the real world, facing his problems head-on instead of hiding behind his record collection. The screenplay (co-written by Cusack and pals Steve Pink and D.V. DiVincentis) remains faithful to that idea.

Cusack is a natural choice to play Rob. In films such as The Sure Thing and Say Anything..., the actor has specialized in playing sad-sack romantics. He beautifully captures not only Rob's crushing heartache but also his frustrating lack of clarity about love. And he remains fully likeable as well. Rarely has a character so vividly represented the despair a broken heart brings; Cusack pulls it off with real humanity.

In fact, High Fidelity is one of the best films ever made about breaking up. So many stories trivialize it or play it for cheap comedy. This one, like its source material, is more interested in exploring what a breakup does to the psyche. That's not to say that there aren't funny moments (in fact, there are plenty of them); it just means that the film cuts deeper than most. It understands the pain of losing someone.

The entire cast is superb, but the breakout star has got to be Jack Black. A little-known character actor and lead singer for the group Tenacious D, Black emerges as a potent comic force. He takes such command of his character that you can't take your eyes off him. I was reminded of the similar breakthrough made by Michael Keaton in the film Night Shift: you just know this guy's going to be a star.

I absolutely loved every minute of High Fidelity, which was directed by Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons, The Grifters). It manages to be as quirky, insightful, and poignant as the book on which it's based. And who knows? Maybe it will even make my Top Five Best Films of 2000 list.

( out of four)

High Fidelity is rated R for language and some sexuality. The running time is 1 hour and 47 minutes.