Monday, March 21, 2011

Say Anything (1989)

Ugghhhh.... I am just going to start out by saying I was greatly disappointed by this movie. I normally love movies from the 80s, too. So imagine my chagrin.

I don't know. I guess I figured since the scene depicted above is so widely recognized that must mean that this movie was worth watching. WRONG.

In short, this movie is about the underachieving Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) who falls in love with the class valedictorian Diane Court (Ione Skye). The two undergo some "obstacles" in their relationship, including her wanting to take care of her dad during her last summer before going away to England for a fellowship. In the middle of it all, Diane's dad is audited by the IRS because *spoiler alert* apparently he has been stealing from the old people he tends to at his nursing home for decades!


Oh *another spoiler alert* don't worry about how the two will continue their relationship once Diane leaves for England. After 2 months of dating this person he had never known before, he decides he will move to England with her. As he stated throughout the film, he really had no ambition anyway with the exception of loving her. Excuse me while I vomit. I found this movie ridiculously unrealistic and bizarre. It was also boring at times. I literally fast-forwarded through many scenes. Oh and her dad ends up in jail! The whole movie just seemed so weird and I'm unsure why I wasted my time. Oh, and to top it all off, that notorious scene where Cusack's character holds the stereo up (which I thought would be this grand gesture at the very end that wins her back) is actually in the middle of the film and has very little effect on her. It's also a very short scene.

I just found their whole relationship highly unbelievable. She was this super driven girl with what appears to be zero friends while he was this guy with absolutely no ambition or goals who decides he is going to start dating her. They eventually get hot and heavy, but then she breaks it off so she can be with her dad (who is definitely having his own problems) and also so she can prevent the future heartache between the two when she leaves for Europe.This all happens within the span of like a few months, maybe 2 tops. I'm not really sure what they ever had to talk about, but that probably didn't matter anyway because she did enough talking with her dad. I mean, she literally told the guy everything, including details of her sexual encounters with Lloyd. I don't know, it was all just bizarre to me. And where was Lloyd's family in all of this? Maybe I missed that when I was fast-forwarding.

I will never watch this movie again. And I think it has scarred me so badly that I can never watch a Cusack movie again... not that I would be missing much.

I feel bad posting such a negative review, especially considering this movie scored 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. I will say, however, that I have a feeling this movie meant a lot to another generation, and I can respect that. 

---------


Genre: Drama, Romance, Comedy
Synopsis: Romantic comedy about a less-than-average student who falls in love with a brilliant biochemistry major.
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 1 hr. 40 min.
In Theaters: Apr 1, 1989 Wide
Distributor:20th Century Fox Film Corporation
Directed By: Cameron Crowe
Written By: Cameron Crowe

No comments:

Post a Comment