Non per soldi... ma per amore

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.

In "Say Anything" Cameron Crowe has crafted a one-of-a-kind romantic comedy which avoids at least 90% of the pitfalls one would commonly associate with films within the genre. How does he do it? Simply by avoiding sappy moments, by creating a script that more or less mirrors the bittersweet experience of first love, and by simply, but tastefully guiding the film's visuals and outstanding acting.

"Say Anything" is not completely anti-conventions, and actually uses some wildly popular rom-com conventions to its advantage, but the role reversal (Dobbler being the 'lost' one), interjection of successfully genuine drama, and simple, understated romantic moments make this a wild success. That's not to say that Crowe isn't successful when he goes for the wildly over-the-top sap, because he knows it's sappy, but it does happen in real life. I mean, the over-the-top gestures like the stereo outside the window do occur in reality, and they guys who do them usually are just like Lloyd Dobbler.

Great characters, a great cast, really good writing, and simple but solid direction make this a real winner that is deservedly recognized as a romantic classic.

8.5/10

A wonderful film which made me laugh, cry and heavily identify with the first time I ever saw it. Then, some 13 years later, after buying it on DVD with faded memories, I watched it again and it all came back.

I laughed; I was moved; I cheered inside when things went well for the hero, and I even remembered things about my first love. Especially the shaking with happiness moment (Judith). This film has survived 13 years with me, and it's not all down to my own memories.

John Cusack and Ione Skye give such wonderful performances that are so believable there's not a second that you're thinking of them as actors. Everything they feel and do seems so real. John Mahoney portrays the over protective Father very well, and his understated struggle when he realises this is superbly done.

Cameron Crowe has excelled himself in capturing the feelings and moments that you can so easily identify with to make them just right, and seem so natural.

It's a wonderfully written film, with equal acting, to remind us all of falling in love for the first time without all the hurt, mistrust and disbelief in oneself. It even manages to provide one of the best endings I've ever seen.

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.

The magic, the heart of Say Anything, is that it dares to be normal. You remember the 80 teen romantic comedy genre. It was a nice idea that became an epidemic, but once and awhile there was a gem like Some Kind of Wonderful. But here is the major difference, the lack of cliche, the lack of formula, the lack of cute dialogue, and saying things without any words. Instead it is said with a look, a touch, a smile, and a tear falling down a face. It allows these talented young actors to _act_!

John Cusack plays Lloyd and it is the fact that Lloyd dares to be normal that explains why the film works. Lloyd is just a regular guy who dares to just call the beautiful class brain Diane (Ione Skye) after they graduate. It is the genuine "niceness" and persistence of Lloyd's phone call, that is responsible for her caving and saying yes. And it goes from there. What is a friendship, a respect for each other, grows into "friends with potential", and then goes even farther. Writer-director Cameron Crowe is famous for not pushing it and he perfected that style here. He doesn't try to make John and Ione look and feel "hot", he lets them continue to play young adults, who would by all rights still be awkward, nervous, testing the waters of life, love, and trust.

In a brilliant parallel, we learn of Diane's relationship with her father Jim (John Mahoney) which she has always been sure of, even when she needed to chose between her parents after their divorce. The subtle and detailed scenes between Diane and Jim are important to the twists in the story when Diane grows to trust someone other than her father and finds deceit with something she had faith in. Jim, is not your typical teen movie father. He's real and normal as well. His car is not backed into a house, he is not thrown into a great body of water, and he is not a typical ogre. He is allowed to be a three dimensional character, a driving force and an obstacle in the teen romance. Jim runs a nursing home and wants the best for Diane. He holds their relationship very dear, as it is all a part of Diane being the best she can be. That desire will end up being a double edged sword as Diane's growing pre-occupation with Lloyd the summer before she is set to go to England, threatens his plans for her. And although Jim seems to respect how Lloyd treats his daughter and him, he is bothered by Lloyd's lack of drive, that the only thing that drives Lloyd is the then almost unheard of sport of kick-boxing and Diane.

When the story comes to important moments that changes Jim, Diane, and Lloyd's world, this is when the story shines. This is when Lloyd's rambling and desperation to re-define his life due to his despair is a welcome change from the overbearing or over brooding of most teen flick "heroes". This is when Diane's confusion and discovery is so wonderfully done with little dialogue. This is when Jim, feeling his world is spiraling out of his control, grows quiet, and the power of un-showy direction from Crowe says all we need to see.

The supporting characters as well are gems, who are true supporting characters. Joan Cusack appeared uncredited as Lloyd's single mother sister who, once a blast is now uptight, but is still a supportive guardian for Lloyd. Lloyd's girl friends D.C. and Corey are like salt and pepper for Lloyd. Corey (played by Lili Taylor) is terminally depressed. She previously had attempted suicide due to fellow classmate, Joe, playing with her heart like a yo-yo and is always being the voice of negativity for Lloyd, always telling him what will go wrong, what can't happen, what should happen, and how he is different from Joe. D.C. is practically dwarfed by Corey, never being allowed to talk and never being able to steer Lloyd in a much more sane direction which Lloyd usually discovers on his own anyhow. All of the supporting characters of friends, former classmates, and residents at Jim's nursing home, are important, none are cardboard cut-out cliches. They all have dimension, depth, feeling, and we can understand their motivation, what drives them with carefully crafted scenes and dialogue.

When the ending comes, it is the subtle way they foreshadow the future instead of the standard frantic pacing most romantic comedies have when it comes to a conclusion. That in itself pretty much sums up the beauty of the film.

It is pure genius, this film is pure genius.