Steve Pink’s co-written comedies are sharp on male embarrassment and less reliable when clever premises have to sustain a whole film. We recommend High Fidelity, with reservations about how little comic room it gives the women.
Fi1m perspective
In Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), an assassin faces a school reunion, and the dialogue treats professional worries and personal embarrassment with much the same gravity. We laughed at those early exchanges because the unlikely comparison is handled so matter-of-factly. Pink shares the screenplay credit with Tom Jankiewicz, D.V. DeVincentis and John Cusack, so its virtues and failings cannot be assigned to him alone. Cusack and Minnie Driver make the romance worth following. But the joke wears thin, and the script never makes Martin’s self-examination searching enough to justify how seriously it takes his unhappiness.
High Fidelity (2000), written by Cusack, DeVincentis, Scott Rosenberg and Pink, is the more perceptive film. Rob’s confidence in his musical taste makes his poor consideration for others funnier, and Cusack keeps him worth listening to. The lists and break-ups organise the comedy around a man who has plenty to say about himself. Iben Hjejle’s Laura has fewer chances to be funny than the men, despite being central to a romance that asks us to care how people treat each other. The script spots Rob’s selfishness, then gives him so much of the conversation that the criticism loses some force.
Pink moved into feature directing with the college comedy Accepted (2006), followed by Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) and its sequel in 2015. Television then became a substantial part of his directing work, including New Girl (2011). That programme works best as an ensemble comedy, once Jess’s awkwardness stops having to provide the whole joke. The friendships earn our recommendation; the romantic plotting is sometimes harder work than it needs to be.
The Wheel (2021), his first dramatic feature, suggests that broad comedy need not define his directing. It remains the co-written scripts that give us the clearest reason to seek out his work. Start with High Fidelity, and allow for a romance in which one person gets rather more time to explain himself.
Biography
Steve Pink is an American actor, screenwriter and director. Born on 3 February 1966, he attended Evanston Township High School, Columbia College Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley, where he graduated in 1989 with a degree in Peace and Conflict Studies. He is a contemporary of John Cusack and D.V. DeVincentis, with whom he formed the production company New Crime Productions.
Pink co-wrote the screenplay for Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), in which he also appeared as Terry Rostand, and for High Fidelity (2000). He has directed the comedy films Accepted (2006), Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) and About Last Night (2014), as well as episodes of television series including Cobra Kai and Santa Clarita Diet. He wrote, directed and produced the 2024 documentary The Last Republican.
