Say Anything...

For other uses, see Say Anything (disambiguation).

Say Anything...
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Cameron Crowe
Written by	Cameron Crowe
Produced by	Polly Platt
Starring	John Cusack Ione Skye John Mahoney Lili Taylor Joan Cusack
Cinematography	László Kovács
Edited by	Richard Marks
Distributed by	20th Century Fox Gracie Films
Release date	April 14, 1989
Running time	100 minutes
Language	English
Budget	$16 million
Box office	$20,781,385 (USA)

Say Anything... is a 1989 romance film written and directed by Cameron Crowe. It was Crowe's directorial debut. In 2002, Entertainment Weekly ranked Say Anything... as the greatest modern movie romance, and it was ranked number 11 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 best high-school movies.

Plot summary

Set in Seattle, Washington, the film features Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack), an average student and aspiring kickboxer, who attempts a relationship with the lovely valedictorian Diane Court (Ione Skye) immediately after their graduation from the same high school. Diane has just won a major fellowship to study in England, and will be going there at the end of the summer. Highly intelligent yet socially inexperienced, Diane is intrigued by Lloyd's endearing manner and willingness to take a chance on someone like her. She agrees to Lloyd's request for a date, and the two of them begin seeing each other regularly.

Lloyd seeks advice and counsel from his sister and several close female friends who are genuinely looking out for Lloyd's best interests as he embarks on his first serious romantic relationship. Diane's father, Jim (John Mahoney), is under investigation by the Internal Revenue Service for alleged tax violations committed at the nursing home he owns; and, as her relationship with Lloyd deepens, Diane worries that she should be spending more time with her father, rather than with Lloyd. Also, Jim does not approve of his daughter's dating an underachiever, and pressures her to break up with him.

Lloyd ultimately wins Diane's heart before the summer's end, and supports her emotionally after her father's conviction and incarceration. The film ends with Lloyd escorting the aviophobic Diane on her flight to England.

Cast

• John Cusack as Lloyd Dobler
• Ione Skye as Diane Court
• John Mahoney as Jim Court
• Joan Cusack as Constance Dobler (uncredited)
• Lili Taylor as Corey Flood
• Dan Castellaneta as Diane's teacher (uncredited)
• Philip Baker Hall as IRS Boss
• Bebe Neuwirth as Lloyd's career counselor
• Lois Chiles as Diane's divorced Mother
• Don 'The Dragon' Wilson as sparring partner

Soundtrack

Allmusic said the soundtrack, like the film, is "much smarter than the standard teen fare of the era." 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 Dobler 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." Ebert later included it on his 2002 Great Movie list, writing, "Say Anything exists entirely in a real world, is not a fantasy or a pious parable, has characters who we sort of recognize, and is directed with care for the human feelings involved." It has also received a "100% Fresh" rating at RottenTomatoes.com. It is the favourite film of Jamie Morren.

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." Variety called it a "half-baked love story, full of good intentions but uneven in the telling."

References in modern culture

An iconic scene takes place near the end of the film, when Lloyd stands outside Diane's bedroom window holding over his head a boombox playing Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes".

This particular scene was also referred to in the 2010 comedy "Easy A", starring Emma Stone. During her webcast, Todd (Penn Badgley) holds up speakers while on top of a riding mower in reference to this iconic scene. Olive then ends her webcast to go downstairs and finally kiss him.

This scene was also referenced by Weebl's Stuff in 2010 with the boombox music adjusted to humorous lyrics. A cartoon version of this was also made.

External links

• Say Anything... at IMDb
• Say Anything... at AllMovie
• Say Anything... at Rotten Tomatoes
• Los Angeles Times retrospective
• Say Anything on Weebl's Stuff