Say Anything

Say Anything (1989)

On Demand, Seattle, WA

September 28, 2007

(This was not the first time I’ve seen this film.)

***1/2 / ****

Now that I’m back in Seattle, Washington, after a six-year hiatus, it seems a good time to revisit films set in my new home away from home. And what better place to start than the iconic ‘80s teen romance, Say Anything? Here we have a film from perhaps the best-known Seattle auteur in movies today, Cameron Crowe, a movie as ripe with Seattle eccentricities as the city itself. So let’s dive in!

Say Anything tells the heartwarming story of Lloyd Dobler’s (John Cusack) search for love following his graduation from a Seattle high school. The object of his affection: Diane Cort (Ione Skye), the school’s beautiful but standoffish valedictorian. Having kept nearly everyone she’s ever known at arm’s length save her single father (John Mahoney), who also happens to be her best friend, Diane is the type of girl easily admired from afar but unobtainable for anyone desiring her affection. Unobtainable, that is, until kickboxing obsessed Lloyd decides his post-graduation goal: that the two of them should fall in love. Complicating Lloyd’s intention is Diane’s impending fellowship to a British university, which begins at the end of the summer. Can love conquer all or will the realities of youth and maturation doom the relationship before it even begins?

If the above plot description seems rather typical, especially for an ‘80s teen flick, well, it is, but what separates Say Anything from the slew of similar films of the time is the gentleness with which it treats it characters. Irony, sarcasm, and a condescending tone (either toward the teenagers or the parents) are nowhere to be found in this film. Rather, a sweet sincerity permeates every frame. Even when characters act in a selfish manner it is easy to see the good intentions that lie beneath.

There is a reason every big name critic and just about everyone else loves this film and it is unquestionably the chemistry of the leads and the film’s utter sweetness. The great Roger Ebert was so impressed with Say Anything that he has included it in his list of all-time great films. Now how’s that for high praise? I, however, am not quite that impressed.

Cusack is masterful in his performance as Lloyd, but to me he seems too nice, too sweet, too sincere, and too honest. His two best friends, D.C. (Amy Brooks) and Corey (Lili Taylor) are likewise awesome people and equally as sweet, nice, and honest as Lloyd. And come to think of it, everyone in Say Anything is super nice, super friendly, and super cheery, positive, and optimistic even when they are lamenting a collapsed relationship or another evening hangin’ with the guys in a convenience store parking lot. Is this really how high school kids behave? Is this the way high school life for kids in Seattle goes down? I have my doubts.

While cynicism, skepticism, and irony aren’t my particular cup of tea, completely draining those fundamental high school motifs from the landscape makes Say Anything a little too clean cut for my tastes. It’s enjoyable to see a world without those inevitable traits but pretending they don’t exist at all takes away a lot of the edge that makes high school such a stressful yet wonderful time in a person’s life.

Further, Cusack’s Lloyd is written as a misfit but comes off as anything but. Take away his trench coat, tone down his motor-mouthed intellectualisms, and this is the coolest kid in school. Follow along with his antics post-graduation and it appears he has all the friends in the world, hangs with two female best friends who idolize him, and lives with his sister and her kid with little if any parental supervision. If that isn’t the formula for total high school awesomeness than I don’t know what would be.

Combine Lloyd with Diane, who is also written as an outcast, and you’ve pretty much got the greatest high school prom king and queen of all-time. Forget the head cheerleader and captain of the football team; these are Lakewood High’s brightest and most beautiful! Diane is so cool, in fact, she can confide the details of her first sexual experience to her father and he actually understands, while still stunning in a short white dress. What kind of down-to-earth, reasonable parenting is this!? It’s perfect, really, too perfect, and that’s what dips Say Anything a few notches in my book.

Rather than nit pick any further, suffice to write there are numerous excellent scenes, quotes, and speeches in Say Anything. Particularly poignant and powerfully accurate are the previously mentioned Diane’s confiding the details of her sex life to her father, the intimate scene where Diane and Lloyd first share themselves with one another in Lloyd’s car, and the speech Lloyd delivers on buying, selling, and producing when confronted by Diane’s father about his career plans for the future. Oh yeah, and that whole boom box over the head thing while Lloyd attempts to win Diane back, but you already knew that one.

In sum, Say Anything is rightfully a classic film that delivers high school romance in an enchanting manner. Is it really as good as the critics say? I don’t think so, but it definitely has its moments. Watching it again though, I now understand why critics continue to sing its praises while holding it up as an all-time benchmark.