L'amour ne s'achète pas

The geek Ronald Miller (Patrick Dempsey) lives with his parents and his younger brother in the suburb and works hard during his vacation mowing lawn for neighbors to save one-thousand dollars to buy a telescope. Ronald is part of an outcast group of nerds with his friend Kenneth Wurman (Courtney Gains) and has a crush on his neighbor, the popular cheerleader Cindy Mancini (Amanda Peterson). When the expensive coat of Cindy is damaged in a party, she goes to the store to propose a deal to the owner to buy another one. Ronald sees and offer one-thousand dollars to buy the coat for her provided she pretends to be his girlfriend for a month. Cindy accepts the deal and Ronald becomes a popular teenager at school. He changes his personality, leaves his nerd friends but four months later he leans the price he has to pay for his achievement.

"Can't Buy Me Love" is a sweet movie from the 80´s with funny moments and a good moral lesson. Ronald Miller learning how to dance in an African show and then repeating the movements in a party at school is maybe the funniest scene. The criticism to people that change the behavior to be popular is also great as well as those that follows these false leaders no matter how ridiculous they are. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Namorada de Aluguel" ("Girlfriend for Rent")

The "nerd" Ronald Miller doesn't appreciate his group of friends and their activities of playing cards and video games. He wants to do something else in his senior year. He craves the life of the "jocks" who date and party which seems to be the privilege of being "popular" at his school. He is also fed up with going "the long route through the library" instead of simply walking "the cool hallway" en route to his class, sitting at the corners of the cafeteria and the "visiting section" at his "own school" to watch his school team's matches. To make matters worse, he has a crush on the head cheerleader, Cindy. Up to this point, your standard youth movie storyline. Assuming that "popularity" would bring him happiness, Ronald decides to offer Cindy $1000 he has been saving mowing the lawn to buy a telescope in return for she pretending for one month that they are dating. His plan goes smoothly at first for quite a good amount of time after which things take a terrible turn.

Congratulations to the director Steve Rash, the writer Michael Swerdlick and the cast. Basically for two unexpected reasons for its genre, this movie is the best of all the youth romantic comedies I have seen. First, the movie has twists and turns in the story and character development which make a variety of endings possible, boost your interest and make you curious in what is going to happen next. Second, the movie does not merely have the generic light-hearted elements of the genre such as parties, relationships, the feud between the different social "layers" in high school.

The remaining paragraphs may contain some spoilers.

The movie gives the youth the life lessons that things you are craving now are not what they seem like, are not really what really matters in life and will not necessarily make you happy in the long term. Falling for short-term cravings and passions interfere with the ability of the brain to process reasonably which leads to dishonesty which leads to regret, loss of dignity and self-respect.

For his age, what Ronald has done can be forgiven especially because, at the end, he realizes his terrible ways even though only after losing the pseudo-popularity and even the former respect as a fellow human and schoolmate, after having rejected Cindy's now sincere (yet, unrealistic in real life) intimacy attempts, having ditched his former friends, so ending up having nowhere to turn to. The showdown between Ronald and the fiercest jock (despite not being the leader), Quint, which was caused by Quint's harassing Kenneth, his former best friend he ditched to be with the popular group, wasn't expected and was dramatic with perhaps long-time consequences for the informal caste system of the school. Ronald was so regretful of going out of himself, his personality, rejecting his friends, his terrible behaviour against his best friend Kenneth and furious at the unjust attitude of the popular group against him, his friends and the other outcasts at the school that he couldn't take it anymore which gave him the courage to stand up to Quint for Kenneth. This and how he handled the rest with Quint is amazing and what restored his dignity and which perhaps raised him to a level of respect which isn't what he had planned with his $1000 at the beginning, but a more dignified, long-term one. He didn't take a step back and vowed to fight Quint if he wouldn't let Kenneth go. Then, he reminded Quint how once they were all friends, Quint fell out of Ronald's tree house and Kenneth picked him up and the two carried him 12 blocks to the hospital and now he wants to kill Kenneth because he's talking to one of the cheerleaders on their "side of the cafeteria". This was a perfect balance of standing up to Quint, showing him that he's not afraid of him and ready to fight if that's the last resort vs. reminding him of how they were once all friends, they even helped him when he was desperate. A perfect concept to invoke the humanity in a fierce person. Ronald now did really grow up, didn't he?

I was also impressed with the brief scene with the African-American teacher stopping the older female school principal from intervening in the fight. He seemed like a far-sighted teacher. He was perfectly cognizant of the situation and the high emotions on the two opposite camps, but still let Ronald express his wounds and insecurities growing inside of him for a long time and let him reach a resolution for himself with perhaps positive consequences for all schoolmates. He seemed cognizant that the fight could lead to a rapprochement and understanding between the two camps and lowering the barriers. I would have liked this character had a longer role in the script.

So what may happen next? Of course jocks will still be jocks, nerds will still be nerds (forget these terms anyway, I am just using these terms as everybody is familiar with them which helps to get my points across). But they will respect each other more. They will acknowledge that nobody is perfect, everybody has ups and downs; that one being good at sports, the other good at lessons, etc., both qualities are noteworthy, complementary and may contribute to accomplishments for their schools and their future. And best of all is when you are humble and appreciate others, your qualities are appreciated in return and you get more respect compared to the case of behaving the other way around. Lessons most of us don't learn at high school, but when we're older. Whether or not Ronald became popular or got Cindy is besides the point and which is what places this movie in a different and special place among its genre. I recommend this movie for adults as well as the youth as adults can also enjoy it. They can also draw lessons as age alone does not necessarily make one mistake-proof and there is always ground for further improvement.

Most 80's teen flicks leave a rather sick feeling in my stomach, but this one has always been a favorite despite the stereotypical shallow, big-haired girls and the Animal House wanna-be jocks. The difference is that the stars, Patrick Dempsey and Amanda Peterson, are not so stereotypical in their roles as lonely nerd and ultra-popular head cheerleader.

Patrick Dempsey has always been underrated as an actor with style, and it is unfortunate that his character, Ronald, is so unlikable after the film's premise kicks in. Ronald goes "from geek to chic" and back again. But Dempsey himself seems too inherently confident to really pull off the geek aspect believably, and he's too cruel to the girl whose heart he won for Ronald to be a truly sympathetic character. The hip version of Ronald, however, is a hoot to watch, even if it is somewhat overdone in the context of an already unlikely plot.

The standout in this film is Amanda Peterson, whose character Cindy has to be one of the most genuinely likeable "stuck up" high school girls on film. Watching her character grow and open her heart to Ronald is the main reason I've given this film repeated viewings. Although the genres are quite different, I'd compare Peterson's character to Renee Zellweger's character in Jerry MaGuire in terms of sheer likability. Making characters likeable is much more difficult than making them sympathetic, and I'm frankly shocked that Peterson's career did not skyrocket after this performance.

Whether you're looking for creative ways to invest $1000 or dancing lessons, Can't Buy Me Love is one 80's teen flick that has a lot to offer.

Can't Buy Me Love is directed by Steve Rash and written by Michael Swerdlick. It stars Patrick Dempsey and Amanda Peterson. Music is by Robert Folk and cinematography by Peter Lyons Collister.

Plot has Dempsey as nerdy outcast Ronald Miller, who fed up of not being popular pays Cindy Mancini (Peterson), the most popular girl in school, one thousand dollars to be his girlfriend.

The 1980s was awash with films of this ilk, the teen dramedy topped up by a big hearted message and a finale of punch the air worth. What it all comes down to is if the film can hold its head above water, not become too twee, and crucially have you smiling come the finale. As evidenced by its popularity among 80s cineastes of a certain age, Can't Buy Me Love delivers all that you expect from such fare.

The core theme is of course self acceptance, the attainment of such in amongst the scary world of teenage school years. This shines bright in spite of some rather unconvincing dialogue and contrived corny moments. Director Rash just about holds it together, ensuring that the charm of the lead actors holds weight for character engagement, even though for thematic depth the screenplay only skims over the surface.

The teenage dramedy would evolve considerably once the 80s was left behind, becoming more biting, daring and observational. Yet for those who lived and loved this type of film in the 80s, there's a lovely nostalgic glow to be gleaned from revisits to the likes of Can't Buy Me Love. Nothing wrong with that. 6.5/10

A high school boy saves up 2000 dollars for a new telescope, but winds up spending it for a girlfriend. She was the most popular girl at school, and needed the money to replace her mother's jacket that she [the girl] had ruined. In return, the girl must date the boy for a month, making him suddenly popular, something he isn't used to at all. Of course, he is found out eventually, and all his new "friends" turn against him. A picture which is well worth seeing.