Say Anything... is a romantic film written and directed by Cameron Crowe. Released in 1989, it marked Crowe's directorial debut. In 2002, Entertainment Weekly ranked Say Anything... as the greatest modern movie romance. This movie ranked number 11 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the fifty best high school movies.^[1] It is among the 50 best reviewed films of all time, according to Rotten Tomatoes.^[2]

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Characters 3 Soundtrack 4 Critical reception 5 References in modern culture 6 References 7 External links

Plot summary

The movie, which is set in Seattle, Washington, features John Cusack as Lloyd Dobler, a mediocre student and aspiring kickboxer who attempts a relationship with school valedictorian Diane Court (played by Ione Skye), despite the fact that some of his friends believe she is out of his league. Diane has just won a major fellowship to study in England and will be going there at the end of the summer. Her father Jim, played by John Mahoney, is under investigation by the Internal Revenue Service for alleged tax violations committed at his nursing home, and Diane worries she should be spending more time with her father rather than Lloyd. Also, Jim does not approve of his daughter dating an underachiever like Lloyd, and pressures her to break up with him. Lloyd ultimately wins her heart before the summer's end and helps support Diane through her dad's conviction. The film ends with Lloyd escorting nervous-flyer Diane to England.

Characters

• John Cusack as Lloyd Dobler
• Ione Skye as Diane Court
• John Mahoney as Jim Court
• Joan Cusack as Constance Dobler
• Lili Taylor as Corey Flood

Soundtrack

Allmusic said the soundtrack, like the film, is "much smarter than the standard teen fare of the era."^[3] The soundtrack included 11 songs:

• "All For Love" - Nancy Wilson [4:37]
• "Cult Of Personality" - Living Colour [5:07]
• "One Big Rush" - Joe Satriani [3:25] (also on Satriani's Flying in a Blue Dream)
• "You Want It" - Cheap Trick [3:43] (also on the band's compilation album Sex, America, Cheap Trick)
• "Taste the Pain" - Red Hot Chili Peppers [5:04]
• "In Your Eyes" - Peter Gabriel [5:23]
• "Stripped" - Depeche Mode [6:41]
• "Skankin' To The Beat" - Fishbone [2:49]
• "Within Your Reach" - The Replacements [4:26]
• "Keeping The Dream Alive" - Freiheit [4:14]
• "Lloyd Dobbler Rap" [0:33]

Critical reception

Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert called it "one of the best films of the year — a film that is really about something, that cares deeply about the issues it contains — and yet it also works wonderfully as a funny, warmhearted romantic comedy."^[4]

The film was not without detractors, however. Caryn James of The New York Times said the film "resembles a first-rate production of a children's story. Its sense of parents and the summer after high school is myopic, presented totally from the teen-agers' point of view. Yet its melodrama — Will Dad go to prison? Will Diane go to England? — distorts that perspective, so the film doesn't have much to offer an actual adult, not even a sense of what it's truly like to be just out of high school these days. The film is all charming performances and grace notes, but there are plenty of worse things to be."^[5] Variety called it a "half-baked love story, full of good intentions but uneven in the telling."^[6]

References in modern culture

Pencey Prep released a song titled "Lloyd Dobler" on their album Heartbreak in Stereo.

References

1. ^ 50 Best High School Movies from the Entertainment Weekly website
2. ^ Best of Rotten Tomatoes from Rotten Tomatoes
3. ^ Say Anything...(soundtrack) at Allmusic
4. ^ Review of Say Anything... by Roger Ebert
5. ^ Review of Say Anything... from The New York Times
6. ^ Review of Say Anything... from Variety