This Valentine’s Day, Hulu premieres its new show High Fidelity. Originally conceived for Disney+, the subject matter pushed it to Hulu and that’s fine by me! The original story is one of my favorites, but it doesn’t truly mesh with the Disney brand, so the switch to Hulu is perfect.
In true High Fidelity fashion, here are our top 5 reasons we’re excited for the show!
Another Adaptation of a Fun Story
High Fidelity has had quite the life since the book was first published in 1995. By British novelist Nick Hornby, it told the story of a record shop owner named Rob and his unlucky love life. It then became a John Cusack movie in 2000 and a (woefully) short-lived Broadway musical in 2006.
Each version of the story has its own charms, but they all come from the same place. Rob is a mess after breaking up with his girlfriend, Laura, and goes through his own journey to get her back.
Genderbent Twist
The story is very male-centric. And there’s nothing wrong with that! But I personally never felt the story to be seeped in toxic masculinity or anything like that. Rob makes mistakes, but through the entire novel, movie, Broadway show, he learns and grows. That’s part of why I love the story so much.
However, when it was announced that they were making a show and flipping the character of Rob to be female, my interest reached insane levels. What an intriguing way to update this material! As stated above, I don’t feel that Rob can’t be relatable to both sexes in how he deals with relationships and life. It’s going to be fun seeing a female perspective in this story, but ultimately, I feel like the heart will remain the same.
Zoë Kravitz
Playing our female Rob is none other than Zoë Kravitz, which is such a perfect choice. She exudes the type of energy that is so intrinsic to Rob: that she has the best music taste in the world and that everyone else is wrong. I could see Kravitz owning a record shop in Brooklyn, no problem. There is something effortlessly cool about her. She fits in this world better than anyone else I ever could have picked.
I also think it’s great that we’re not just getting a female perspective, but a non-white perspective. And I’d be remiss not to mention her awesome parents, with her dad Lenny as a fantastic musician, and her mom Lisa Bonet, who actually played one of Rob’s girlfriends in the original film!
No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn
The book took place in London. The movie took place in Chicago. But this new version and the Broadway musical both take place in Brooklyn. And in my eyes, this is the best place for the story. Brooklyn is just the epicenter of great music and the hipster culture that this story thrives on. The character of Barry has been reimagined, but he is the pitch perfect Brooklyn music snob and I’m looking forward to seeing the new iteration of that character.
I am also expecting some homesickness with shots of the Brooklyn streets and just the energy the city radiates. I don’t even like Brooklyn that much, but it’s such a good setting for this story.
The Music!
Music is a major part of my life, much like Rob. I tend to be a little more mainstream in my taste than the character, but I know we are going to get an interesting array of genres and time periods in this show. Will the new Rob also have a moment involving Bruce Springsteen that has been such a through line among the adaptations thus far? What song got her and her ex together? It’s these little details that I’m very much looking forward to. The soundtrack should be incredible.
Are you looking forward to High Fidelity? Be sure to check out the full series when it premieres on February 14th on Hulu!
