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SAY ANYTHING is one of those movies from the 1980s that during all these years assumed some sort of cult following, and it's probably Cameron Crowe's most famous movie along with JERRY MAGUIRE. When I saw it few months ago I didn't consider it a classic but still a good movie in its own right.

Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) is a good-hearted underachiever that falls for valedictorian Diane Court and wants to ask her out despite they belong to different social groups. Lloyd lives with his sister and still hasn't plans for his future: Diane comes from a sheltered academic upbringing, and she is about to take a fellowship in Britain for the summer. Some time pass, they become intimate much to her father's concern, and he is also investigated from the Internal Revenue Service but the real culprit is her dad, and they end up going together in Britain.

There are many good and memorable moments in it (most famous of them, when Lloyd stands under Diane's window playing Peter Gabriel's IN YOUR EYES on a boombox), and has a great 1980s vibe to it and a nice performance by the always good Cusack. The only negative would be the father subplot, but overall, it's just a decent comedy that has achieved some sort of cult status.

I rented this movie solely based on the excellent reviews that it has gotten everywhere. I missed it during its theatrical release (as so many others did) and had the hardest time finding a copy of it at our local video rental stores. Not because it wasn't popular but b/c, according to the clerks, people kept stealing or "losing" their copies...especially around Valentines Day. When I finally got my hands on a copy I was blown away. I had thought this was going to be just another in a long link of Pretty in Pinkish movies with predictable characters and a bad case of puppy love, but what I got was a surprisingly refreshing, unconventional story with a complicated and well-developed emotional depth flawlessly captured by the actors and Cameron Crowe.

And talk about role reversals! I'm so used to seeing the man take the assertive and mature role while courting a woman of limited financial or intellectual means...but in this film it's the girl that's got her future together and the guy who's more than willing to concentrate his attention on making her happy. And Lloyd Dobler isn't just a shiftless man with no future. He's an eternal optimist who lives in the present and recognizes, admires, and compliments the qualities in Diane that go beyond her amazing intellect. She becomes his dare-to-be-great situation and his absolute love and devotion to her is anything but unmanly. The force of it is palatable and immensely erotic without being reduced to cheap teenage lust. The sight of Lloyd in the shadows defiantly blasting out the truth of their love through the boombox is a scene which would have seemed awkward and goofy in any other movie but this one. It's easy to understand why even the critics of the time gave Say Anything two enthusiastic thumbs up. This is one of the few films that really captures the feeling of love.

Cameron Crowe succeeds in creating a vary likeable character dealing with love from afar. Lloyd Dobler, played by John Cusak, is very popular, but without major ambition. He is smitten with the smartest girl in school, played by Ione Skye. Dobler's current main goal in life is to get a date with the object of his obsession.

If you liked the movie PRETTY IN PINK, you will really enjoy this movie. Two people from different walks of life discover each other. Cusak is flawless in his role. Miss Skye is more than just a pretty face. John Mahoney plays the pampering father.

Crowe has a talented flair with the agonizing emotions that are part of approaching adulthood.

Very few films have even tried to be as smart and honest as Say Anything. The film, which is more then 10 years old, still remains to be one of the strongest pieces of romantic cinema. Not only do John Cusack and Ione Skye have perfect chemistry; not only is John Mahoney's character one of the most complicated father figures in the history of film; not only is the screen play delightfully honest; but everything just seems to fit right in this movie. A true treasure

It's graduation day and while Lloyd Dobler has graduated he has yet to speak to the girl of his dreams Diane Court. Meanwhile Diane has a bright future in front of her but yet managed to go through school without really being friends with anyone but her father. When Lloyd finally gets the courage to ask her out she accepts and finds that she enjoys her company and that this is the world she has been missing out on. However will their growing friendship go anywhere with Diane destined for a scholarship in England?

Like many people I knew this film from the famous image of Lloyd holding a ghetto-blaster above his head, but I had never seen the film or known anything about it until recently. The film opens on fairly typical teen territory and I settled in for what I expected (knew?) would bring just what I expected from it. In a way this is what it did do because the basic narrative arch and characters are familiar and it is solid and enjoyable in this regard. However the film is better than the basics would suggest because it has a smart script in Crowe's impressive feature debut. The story has more to it than the romance and in this way it deepens the characters. Of course it is still a teen movie so it is not as deep as all that but it is refreshing different from the majority of the films where the action focuses entirely on the young couple.

With this approach Mahoney works well with a character that has real interest and complexity and his character is much better than I expected as a result. Cusack does equally as well with a gently quirky character with dignity and humour – he contrasts well with his peers, most of who are the clichés associated with the genre but are mocked a bit for it. Skye is good but takes a while to get to the good material – for the majority she does what the genre requires but is better with better material later on. The support cast features mostly solid performances from a cast of actors on their way to fame – Taylor, Piven, Hall and others are surprise finds.

Overall then this is a genre teen romance and is good on that level. However the writing and performances are better than the genre average and make for a much more interesting and engaging film that should be liked by the majority of viewers as long as you don't dislike the genre itself.