#140RVW
The highwater mark for all teen movies. Crowe becomes a director, Cusack a superstar, “In Your Eyes” the soundtrack for love forever more…
What’s more:
The tagline for Say Anything is great; “To know Lloyd Dobler is to love him. Diane Court is about to know Lloyd Dobler.” It’s a perfect setup for the story, in which recent high school grad, amateur kickboxer and professional good guy Lloyd pursues and wins over gorgeous brain Diane Court, much to the chagrin of her legal-troubled father.
Cameron Crowe has a unique insight into the mind of the American teenager (at least the teenager of the 1980’s). Whether it’s his semi-autobiographical experiences as a teen journalist following bands (chronicled in Almost Famous), or his going undercover as a high school student to write the truthful and surprising Fast Times at Ridgemont High. It all comes together best here in Say Anything, his directorial debut, as he expands the focus of this insight to include the adults that inhabit this world.
This incredible talent for getting into the heads of teenagers is as strong as ever, as he writes dialogue and scenes that reflect the reality of being a recent high school graduate and searching for the meaning of it all. But one of the things that gives Say Anything real depth is the all too human presence of Jim Court, possibly the first fully-fleshed out adult in a teen movie yet. He’s not here as the dopey dad, or even the kind father who occasionally has a sincere heart to heart talk with his daughter, delivering the right mix of wisdom, insight and love. He is a complete human being with a full range of emotions, and his love, joy, jealousy, anger, fear and vulnerability make for a better film. Brought to life by John Mahoney, who turns in the best acting I’ve ever seen from him; I think you could make a case for an Oscar nomination for this performance.
Then there are the “teens”, even if many of them had long since left these years behind. By this time, John Cusack was past playing roles like this. He’d done the whole teen comedy thing and was moving on to more adult roles. Crowe was able to convince him to return to the genre, based on the quality of the character and the script. (Reportedly John Mahoney, who was starring with Cusack in Eight Men Out, also talked it up.)
Lloyd Dobler is a star-making role, even if Johnny C already was a star. Lloyd is easy to root for, but he too is more than a simple “good guy”. Cusack may have covered a lot of this comedy ground before, but he had never been as exposed as he is with Lloyd Dobler.
Ione Skye is nearly perfectly cast as Diane Court. While she’ll never again have a role as full-featured, she makes the most of the opportunity and makes the unattainable “Diane Court, whoa” a real character.
Lili Taylor & Amy Brooks as Corey & DC, respectively, are the friends you hope you’re lucky enough to have. Loren Dean didn’t get the part as Lloyd but makes a great Joe. Bebe Neuwirth makes her film debut in a small role as Lloyd’s persistent guidance counselor. Jeremy Piven & Joan Cusack make small but important appearances, as is customary in Cusack movies. Ditto Eric Stoltz for Cameron Crowe, who in addition to his cameo was a Production Assistant on the film.
The movie is executive produced by mastermind James L. Brooks, who actually came up with the germinating idea of a criminal father and his daughter.
The music in Say Anything is simply fantastic. Crowe certainly has an ear for good music, unsurprisingly, considering his roots as a music journalist, and there is a great mix of styles here.
The famous boombox scene was to highlight a Fishbone song, “Turn The Other Way”, as Cusack was a big Fishbone fan, but virtually no one in the world would disagree that Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” makes the scene a classic. (If I were going to use a Fishbone song, though, I’d go with “A Movement in the Light”.)
Best bit of trivia I found when writing this review: the dojo featured in this movie is the same one that was used in The Karate Kid (1984) as the Cobra Kai dojo.
Say Anything is not only one of the best teen movies, it’s one of the very best romantic comedies of all time. “Get ready for greatness, Lloyd.”
Poster:
Trailer:
Bechdel Test:
Pass
The Representation Test Score: B (7 pts)
(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)
| Main Cast | John Cusack Lloyd Dobler, Ione Skye Diane Court, John Mahoney James Court, Lili Taylor Corey Flood |
| Rating | PG-13 |
| Release Date | Fri 14 Apr 1989 UTC |
| Director | Cameron Crowe |
| Genres | Comedy, Drama, Romance |
| Plot | A noble underachiever and a beautiful valedictorian fall in love the summer before she goes off to college. |
| Poster |  |
| Runtime | 100 |
| Tagline | To know Lloyd Dobler is to love him. Diane Court is about to know Lloyd Dobler. |
| Writers | Cameron Crowe (written by) |
| Year | 1989 |
