There’s been a lot of buzz around the new Hulu High Fidelity reboot, with Zoë Kravitz playing the main character Rob, played by Jon Cusack in the original movie. Joining the ranks of other reboots like Fuller House, One Day At A Time, GhostBusters and Ocean’s 8, among many others, it seems that we are in the age of the reboot, creators and producers playing into the nostalgia of these shows or movies.
But not all reboots are made alike. While some are a flop, High Fidelity seems to have gotten a lot of things right, bringing the old movie into the 2020s with a grand splash. Check out what we liked and disliked about the new High Fidelity reboot.
Love – Zoë Kravitz as Rob
Replacing John Cusack as the main character Rob, Zoë Kravitz brings a level of coolness to the character that Cusack’s Rob never had. She’s charming, funny, always lighting a joint, and loves her friends. Even when she has her more self-centered moments, she never dives into annoying self-pity like most of Cusack’s Rob.
She ends up taking ownership of her actions and tries to make it up to her friends. And in this reboot, the Charlie character is called Kat Monroe and is played by Ivanna Sakhno. Kat Monroe is a bit of a stale, one-dimensional character, and it’s hard to understand why Rob would feel inferior to her because she’s clearly much cooler. Which brings us to our next point.
Dislike – Kat Monroe
As Rob’s only female love interest in the show, Kat Monroe is a bit of a disappointment. We don’t see much of her at the beginning and mostly hear from Rob that she’s smart and charming, seeing her talking to a group of women about feminism and politics, though not interacting with Rob on her own.
While the men get more fleshed out characters, except for her first boyfriend, who clearly was so far back that he doesn’t really need to be in the story, Kat Monroe’s character is flat, especially when we find out she’s a shallow influencer, and we never get her good, interesting side, one of the most disappointing characters in the new High FidelityHulu Reboot.
Love – Simon
The ex that we do love is Simon. Before we (or he) realize he’s gay, he’s seen with Rob, getting along like two peas in a pod. They have all the same tastes in music, books, movies, etc, and it’s not hard to see how they get along. They have great on-screen chemistry.
In one of the most touching moments of the show, as Rob goes on about her exes always leaving her, Simon butts in telling her that he never left and that despite his being gay and not romantically interested in her, they still spend all of their time together and clearly care about each other a lot. “I never left,” he says pointedly, which reassures Rob.
Love – Cherise
Cherise is the other supporting character that we love. Da’Vine Joy Randolph puts her own spin on the record shop worker, making the character even funnier than the original. Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s performance is also mesmerizing; in the moments where her character feels disappointed or sad, you can see it on her face, and can’t help feeling sad with her.
The most touching moment for her character is when Rob gets her the guitar she’s been saving up for, and she almost bursts into tears, ending the scene singing a beautiful rendition of Stevie Wonder’s “I Believe (When I Fall In Love)”.
Don’t – Everyone Gets A Love Interest Except Cherise
Rob has multiple love interests, people falling over themselves to be with her (and who wouldn’t). Simon has a whole episode dedicated to his on-again, off-again relationship with Benjamin, which ends with a date with the sweet Blake, who proves to be a better date.
But Cherise doesn’t have a love interest, and when she’s interested in a man, it seems to be the butt of a joke. While her character does have a lot of drive and focus on her music career and is far from a one-dimensional representation, it’s still a glaring problem, especially since the other characters can have interesting lives, and hobbies, as well as love interests.
Love – The Vibe
Despite the fact that the show is obviously trying too hard to be cool, it still hugs that line between pretentious and real, the real and sentimental moments in the show allowing it to not feel too cool for its own good.
The show flips the script and showcases the lives of a queer black woman, her equally cool black woman friend, and her gay best friend, who is way more nuanced than the classic gay best friend character.
Love – Flipped The Script With Two Black Women As The Main Characters
This new version of High Fidelity is much more diverse than the last one. While Lisa Bonet (Zoe Kravitz’s mother) was one of the only Black people in the movie with an important role, the new show stars a Black queer woman as the lead, and one of her best friends is a fat black woman with drive and nuance.
Rainbow Francks, Nadine Malouf, and Kingsley Ben-Adir play important roles in the show, all Black or POC, and there are a few queer characters on the show. While the show isn’t perfect, the vast majority of Rob’s love interests are white, it does center the experiences of Black people and People of Color in an important way.
Dislike – The Ending
Rob goes on a date with Clyde, played by Jake Lacey, off one of the apps. When she initially tries to run away without telling him, pretending to go to the bathroom, she realizes she forgot her phone and slips back into the bar, pretending nothing happened. They end up getting along, and having sex, starting an ambiguous relationship that hugs the line between friendship, and dates.
Throughout the episodes, we see that Clyde is sweet, reliable, and clearly into Rob, which she takes advantage of. Though she likes him too, she also is confused, going back and forth between him and her biggest ex, the beautiful Mac, played by Kingsley Ben-Adir. At the end, when she really messes up with Clyde, she tries to win him back, not saying sorry or admitting to her mistake, the show ending and leaving us with a bitter taste in the mouth.
Love – Record Lending
When two young queer POC musicians come into the record store and steal some records, Rob and Cherise run after them for miles, trying to catch them and get the records back. But at one point, both Rob and Cherise stop running, out of breath, and give up. When they look up though, there’s a poster of the faces of the two thieves and the address to their jam space.
When they get to the jam space, they tell Rob that they don’t have any money, but they were planning to return the records once they sampled them. Winning Rob over by telling her they want records because the sound is better, she offers to let them borrow records whenever they want as long as they bring them back in good condition, despite Cherise’s protests. In the end, Cherise joins the duo to make music, so the outcome of Rob’s grace and generosity is good.
Love: The Importance Placed on Friendship
The show always gives a lot of space to the non-romantic relationships in the show. Rob has a really sweet relationship with her brother Jackson and his partner Nikki, who seem to know her well, and are an important presence in her life.
As previously mentioned, her friendships with Simon and Cherise are super important to the show, and we see the characters hanging out a lot. The three getting along really well, in whatever variation of the group, and the tender way they take care of each other, or the hard-truths they tell each other, makes us believe in true friendship.
