classicsoncall I'm not big on teenage angst films because those years are way behind me now. But this picture surprised me in that it seemed more realistic and credible than a lot of stories that feature flashy characters and over the top situations. Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) and Diane Court (Ione Skye) were fairly straight, normal looking high school graduates whose career paths might have gone in entirely different directions if Lloyd hadn't summoned up the courage to ask her out on a date. The story points out the varying misperceptions high school students harbor about others who aren't like them, and it was commendable how the all-night party gave Diane an opportunity to feel welcomed by students she otherwise might not even known had existed. There was a rather unforced error in the script though regarding Diane's winning the Reed Scholarship. Her father (John Mahoney) learned about it via a phone call, and rushed over to the nursing home to tell her about it. However later on, when Lloyd spoke to her on the phone to congratulate her, he said he read about it in the newspaper. That seemed like a pretty big goof to go unnoticed by the film makers.Anyway, as far as romantic comedies go, this was more than tolerable. Not being part of the target audience, I didn't feel embarrassed by the picture the way one gets watching a picture like "There's Something About Mary" for example. One might even go so far as to call this a teen flick for grown-ups.

SimonJack "Say Anything" is a coming of age film of the late 1980s with a couple of twists. It's billed as a comedy, drama and romance, but the amount of comedy hardly qualifies it for that It's a coming of age drama and romance. Both of the lead characters come from broken homes. John Cusack is Lloyd Dobler who doesn't have any particular plans for a future. Ione Skye is Diane Court who has just won a cherished fellowship to study in England. The story takes place over the summer after high school graduation. It takes place in California somewhere along the coast.Besides the twist of different educational outlooks of the two leads, Diane's father will soon go to prison for fraud. The IRS case is solid against him. This movie is different from the usual high school films of the mid to late 20th century that focused on rebellious teens or the raucous and crass behavior of cliques. The language is clean, and there isn't any vandalism, violence or mayhem. We know early on that it will be a romance between two young people who are near opposites. The plot is okay but seems disjointed at times. The story is somewhat slow going. The acting of the principals is good, not so much so for some of the younger supporting cast. Cusack had a dozen movies behind him by the time of this film and was 23 years old. Still, he looked high school age. Skye, on the other hand, was new to filmdom with only three films ahead of this one. And, she was right on the age – 18. She even shows a little of a teen face that had some skin problems that are common around that age. It's a credit to the studio that it didn't try to cover this up with makeup. The ending is a little far-fetched. The only bit of comedy that stood out was a line uttered by a girl in a discussion with Lloyd and another girl. She was referring to Diane when she said, "She's a brain with a body of game show hostess."Watching this film just now in my senior years, for the first time it struck me that movies about teenagers are no longer very interesting or entertaining to me. Perhaps a younger audience would enjoy it more.

Daisy Victoria Edwards Awh, this film is cute, you know. I wouldn't say it's amazing but for what it is, it's entertaining, I cared about the characters and I got frustrated when the plot didn't go the way I wanted it to. I wanna give this a rewatch now I know the plot so I can appreciate the other things which I don't think I did enough of i.e. music, side characters, acting etc. I was just in the mood to watch an old-school romance and that's what I got. The boombox scene (which is all I knew about this movie) wasn't as WHOAH as I expected but maybe that's what's so great about it, is that it wasn't a big overblown plot point but it still has a place in lots of audiences hearts. I think this could be a regular go-to film for me. John Cusack is a little cutie and his hopeless romantic character is a believable and real performance. As is Diane Court who's family struggles bring an unexpected struggle to the couple. The ending is so heart-warming and leaves you wanting a little bit more but that's what you want from a film. You're put in the characters shoes. You're happy and got what you want with the couple but you have no idea what's round the corner, just hope and love.

dee.reid Most of us know about that scene, that famous scene where the guy is standing in the front yard outside the house of his girlfriend (or ex-girlfriend, I should say), after she just broke up with him the day before. It's early in the morning when he's decided to pull off this little stunt, and, standing next to his car, he's holding up a huge boom-box over his head blaring Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes."This is the most iconic and famous scene in Cameron Crowe's "Say Anything...", his 1989 debut which he both wrote and directed. This is a movie I've seen in clips over the years but have never actually sat down and watched the whole thing in its entirety. I've read the critical praise (the most significant coming from the late film critic Roger Ebert), "Entertainment Weekly" naming it the greatest modern romance AND ranking it at #11 on their list of 50 best high school movies, and a Valentine's Day article in "The Washington Post" from 2006 titled "What I Did For Lloyd." Now I've finally sat down and watched the movie and understood where it's all coming from.The 1980s were a wasteland of teen comedies. John Hughes (1950-2009) was behind the best of them ("The Breakfast Club," "Sixteen Candles"). At the tail end of the decade, came Cameron Crowe and his "Say Anything...". This film is much like any teen comedy/romance to come out at that time (and ever since) and begins as such, with a "noble underachiever" who falls for an ultra-intelligent, if socially unskilled, beauty who seems way out of his league. The movie also seems to at least partially pre-figure the Seattle "grunge" era of the early '90s (which was spear-headed by the legendary grunge band Nirvana), but the exact details of this implication are part of another discussion entirely.Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) is the noble underachiever who dares to ask out the beautiful high school valedictorian Diane Court (Ione Skye) the day after their graduation. Lloyd's ambitions are pretty slim, since the only thing he can really see himself doing in the immediate future is Kick-boxing (which at that time was still a relatively new thing). So at least he's honest about his life's aspirations: he knows what he wants to do, and he especially knows what he DOESN'T want to do - which does shock some people and makes him the most truthful character in the entire film. But it's an even bigger shock when he decides that he wants to go out with the lovely Diane Court.Diane, on the other hand, has her whole life set out before her. She's worked hard her entire life to work her way up to the top of her high school graduating class. And all that hard work pays off when she learns she's been granted a fellowship to further her studies overseas in England. And she'll be leaving at the end of the summer. And then there's Lloyd, who impulsively asks her out on a date and much to his surprise, she accepts his invitation. They do go out, they enjoy one another's company, they connect, and their feelings of just being "friends with potential" do gradually deepen into love. While Diane's over-protective father James Court (John Mahoney) seems to like Lloyd, he mostly sees him as a distraction and someone who's going to steer her away from the future she's worked so hard to achieve.We like Lloyd and Diane both, and we want them to be together. But like any good love story, there has to be roadblocks, and these roadblocks hurt...In a major subplot, however, James, owner of an elderly-care facility, is also being investigated by the IRS for tax fraud. This subplot would be a most unnecessary distraction from an otherwise touching teen romance, but the way everything turns out and why it's even happened in the first place is just one of the many unique charms of "Say Anything..." and why it stands out amongst most teen romance films made before and since. A less ambitious movie would JUST be about Lloyd & Diane's relationship and nothing else, but "Say Anything..." has other things on its mind beside those two - even though it still hurts us when outside forces cause them to separate for a time. "Say Anything..." wants to show us how their relationship is affecting everyone around them, and how everyone around them is affecting them, as well."Say Anything..." is a wondrously scripted, acted, and directed film; it's definitely an early indication of the skill of a writer and director with huge ideas, huge potential. Crowe knew his characters well and chose his performers even better. John Cusack and Ione Skye are the dynamic young stars playing Lloyd and Diane. Like John Hughes before him and who dominated the early portion of the 1980s teen scene, Cameron Crowe knew how to make a "smart" teen film: one that is not filled with stupid sex jokes and even stupider characters - teens and adults alike.With that in mind, I can see how an audience so cynical in 1989 after being bombarded with teen comedy after teen comedy throughout the earlier portion of the decade can very easily write off "Say Anything..." as just Another Teen Movie. It's a teen film, yes, and an occasionally very funny one, too, but it's also an extraordinarily moving and compelling one, as well. So I can also see how that cynicism would wear off once the movie really begins to reveal itself to the audience - especially with its emotional honesty and maturity, and the fact that it's actually a very well-written and acted little piece of cinema.So it's really no wonder why you can Say Anything you want about "Say Anything..." but you cannot deny that it is not a great movie!10/10