User reviews

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.

Cameron Crowe succeeds in creating a vary likeable character dealing with love from afar. Lloyd Dobler, played by John Cusak, is very popular, but without major ambition. He is smitten with the smartest girl in school, played by Ione Skye. Dobler's current main goal in life is to get a date with the object of his obsession.

If you liked the movie PRETTY IN PINK, you will really enjoy this movie. Two people from different walks of life discover each other. Cusak is flawless in his role. Miss Skye is more than just a pretty face. John Mahoney plays the pampering father.

Crowe has a talented flair with the agonizing emotions that are part of approaching adulthood.

Most people I know loved Say anything and I am among the many who thought this was a very good touching, funny movie for teens and young people. It is a bit more wholesome then a lot of what's out there in this genre and although it doesn't rank among my favorite teen movie it definitely earned it's praise.

There are some terrific one liners in Say Anything and the male/female relationship is depicted in a touching and often very accurate-surprisingly accurate way. Plus there are moments of just pure hilarity and unforgettable lines, one of them being what I headed my Quote(my buddy and I still throw this line around to this day.) John Cussack stars here and was very good, it was my introduction to him. I'd recommend this movie to anyone who just wants to see a nice fresh teen movie with both touching and hilarious moments. My vote is 8 out of 10.

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.

While most audiences of the modern era may understandably dismiss Say Anything as a boring, uneventful romantic comedy movie that doesn't result in much, what they might not recognize is that-- in its heyday-- it was a bold and refreshing step off the beaten path that made a deer trail which has been followed enough to've become the well paved trail it is today.

Rather than tell a wild party tale that romanticizes and exaggerates high school or college antics in a problematic manner like John Hughes had been doing, Say Anything took a more relaxed, casual approach that involves a couple communicating with one another about each other's ambitions and feelings about life. Sure it's naive, but that's kind of the point of what's been sussed out here; that life isn't an easy going coming-of-life movie, and that things are complex.

The problem is the entire experience is put on rails. Lloyd and Diane both have one-track minds for one another, all of Lloyds friends have one-track minds for Lloyd, Diane's dad cares only for Diane. It's one thing for Lloyd and Diane having to come to terms with how life won't work out how they want it to-- but for EVERYONE ELSE in the story to naively follow along and wonder the same things themselves for these two characters-- and not have lives of their own (except maybe Corey, for two seconds)--

Still though, it's a delightful vignette into the world of 1989, and was a much needed baby step to get romcoms to where they are today (which are admittedly absent nowadays and have since become serial drama TV shows... which is fine). Much like a lot of cinema over time, I can see why it was a big deal for its day, sure it has since gotten muted and done better, but that will never detract from what it did for its genre.

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.

SAY ANYTHING is one of those movies from the 1980s that during all these years assumed some sort of cult following, and it's probably Cameron Crowe's most famous movie along with JERRY MAGUIRE. When I saw it few months ago I didn't consider it a classic but still a good movie in its own right.

Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) is a good-hearted underachiever that falls for valedictorian Diane Court and wants to ask her out despite they belong to different social groups. Lloyd lives with his sister and still hasn't plans for his future: Diane comes from a sheltered academic upbringing, and she is about to take a fellowship in Britain for the summer. Some time pass, they become intimate much to her father's concern, and he is also investigated from the Internal Revenue Service but the real culprit is her dad, and they end up going together in Britain.

There are many good and memorable moments in it (most famous of them, when Lloyd stands under Diane's window playing Peter Gabriel's IN YOUR EYES on a boombox), and has a great 1980s vibe to it and a nice performance by the always good Cusack. The only negative would be the father subplot, but overall, it's just a decent comedy that has achieved some sort of cult status.

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.

A friend of mine who also likes John Cusack movies told me to check this one out, that I'd like it a lot. Maybe I tried too hard, because the movie fell short of capturing me. Granted, I'm bitter and cynical about love, but some movies can "break" me, as it were. It was almost as if the plot created a relationship that was improbable in its conception, but got a little too good. They had to slap together a way to make that mid-film falling out, and it didn't quite work. The controversy with her dad's business created more drama in Diane's life than perhaps it should have, and created an unwanted dragging effect 3/4 of the way through. Not as funny as Cusack's mid-80's outings, but has its moments. Still worth the 3 bucks I paid to rent it. 6/10

Very few films have even tried to be as smart and honest as Say Anything. The film, which is more then 10 years old, still remains to be one of the strongest pieces of romantic cinema. Not only do John Cusack and Ione Skye have perfect chemistry; not only is John Mahoney's character one of the most complicated father figures in the history of film; not only is the screen play delightfully honest; but everything just seems to fit right in this movie. A true treasure

I saw "Say Anything..." in the theater (MovieWorld, Douglaston, NY) and quite a few times since. It has a few very nice moments (most of those involve John Mahoney) and some cool lines of dialogue but never feels real. "Say Anything..." is one of those movies that always feels like a movie. It's never able to break down that wall. It does have some good scenes, no doubt about it, but not enough to be considered a top-tier '80s teen movie. Honorable mention: the closing seconds.

If you have read my "Sixteen Candles" comment, I have been on a journey to watch all of the classic teen 80's movies. The girls at my work have been on my case with this, so now I have seen "Pretty in Pink", "The Breakfast Club", and "Sixteen Candles", now "Say Anything...". When I told one of the girls I rented this movie, she was excited. She said this is one of the best teen movies of the 80's, and I'd have to agree.

It's not a real sappy love story, it's more normal and real. It has it doubt's, flaws, scary parts, fun parts, sexy parts, and the friendship. Ione and John clicked so well in this movie. I loved the scene where John is standing outside with the stereo blasting "In your eyes" by Peter Gabriel. What a fantastic scene, I mean what girl wouldn't like that? And poor John was only like 90 pounds, I was hoping Ione would have run to him to let him put that 1000 pound stereo down! It was the 80's, there was nothing smaller. :D This is a great movie. I think it should be watched by anyone. It's just a fun film to watch with friends or a date. So far, this is my favorite 80's teen flick.

10/10

I'm a great fan of high school movies and of the Cusacks but this movie left me underwhelmed.

The problem is, that although it makes an admirable attempt to round out the three main characters (Lloyd, Diane and her Dad) it does so at the expense of the plot.

Let's face it, there's nothing to the plot other than the traditional boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl again and, within this framework, everything that happens is almost completely predictable.

There are all sorts of potentially interesting supporting characters (especially Lloyd's sister played by the uncredited Joan Cusack)but nothing is made of them.

So, not bad exactly, just a little ho-hum. If you haven't seen it already watch "The Sure Thing" instead.

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

Cameron Crowe is one of those directors that is incredibly gifted at writing great characters that feel like they are having real relationships. Whether it be parents to children, unlikely friendships, or just great romance, Crowe always finds a way to get the best out of actors and that always starts with his scripts. Say Anything tells the story of Lloyd, a well mannered 19 year old who lives in the now, and Diane, a valedictorian with everything good coming her way, and how a relationship like that may blossom over the course of the summer before college.

Some may shrug at the fact that Lloyd may have no business in being with a girl of her stature, but the film does a nice job of making the romance believable. Having not known each other in high school, Lloyd decides to take his chances and just call and ask her on a date. Of course, she's very hesitant at first but by simply saying "he made me laugh" was enough for me. It's true, a laugh can go a long way in getting to know something in whatever aspect possible. Now 26 years later you can definitely feel the influence that this film had on coming of age films even to this day. The Spectacular Now takes a similar premise and also was very successful. It's hard to nail a high school film, but Say Anything did a pretty good job. I also appreciated the way they portrayed Diane's relationship with her father. It was clearly a close bond they had, and for 3/4 of the movie I felt like it wasn't clichéd at all. There wasn't the typical Disney moments of "it's my dream dad, not yours". Now, towards the end of the film I think that same relationship was sacrificed for certain plot points. Knowing that the film isn't all that unpredictable, I should have guessed certain things would happen, but I felt like the last third of the movie felt too much like all the other Hollywood films.

There are a lot of classic Crowe moments like when Lloyd is constantly getting advice from his close girlfriends or even his guy friends, so there's no shortage of laughs or fun moments. The film also contains a fantastic score and soundtrack, which are also Crowe trademarks. The famous boombox scene is shorter than I thought and doesn't hold as much of a bearing on the film's outcome as I had heard. But Say Anything is still a well done coming of age film with real characters with real moments.

+Soundtrack/score

+Real romance

+Everyone is well written

+Felt like I was living it with them

-3rd acts left turn

7.7/10

I've never cared for "teen movies" and this *isn't* one, so don't worry. On the surface, this movie would appear to be about high school, or growing up, or the 'loser' guy dares to get the 'winner' girl. This movie is about truthfulness and it's liberating qualities and also about the price one pays for success or greatness.

Diane Court is the valedictorian and the "most likely to succeed" in her high school. Lloyd Dobler is the well-liked underachiever with good character. Lloyd's low-pressure friends accept Diane at a party and she, at last, gets to let her hair down. This launches a romance that Diane's father disdains.

Always quick to shower her with praise, encouragements, and gifts Diane's father has visions of her earth-shattering success. On her part, Diane is getting a little self-conscious over her father's incessant chatter about what HE wants her to be.

Lloyd's attentions to Diane grow inconvenient to her father perhaps less for his romantic interest, but worse: he's diverting her from her greatness. Simultaneously, Lloyd has no outward indicators of achievement. He lacks direction and can't really say what his next moves are. Diane's father's agitation grows when investigators from the IRS launch a criminal investigation of him.

The acting in this film is so believable you feel like you are in the movie yourself. John Mahoney (the father)makes this role look so easy and his face conveys every emotion so clearly. John Cusack nails this role as the anxious-to-please, smitten teen with a sincere heart. His dialog sounds very natural. Ione Skye is lucky. Not many female rolls for teenage girls are as juicy as this one: no nudity, no ax murderers, and no entering into talent competitions. Additional endorsement: I danced with a naval officer from a nuclear sub to the main theme of this film and he immediately asked me if I had seen this film. We proceeded to have a conversation about how great this film is!

Say Anything is another critically acclaimed film which I couldn't enjoy. It is a decent story told with a languid and odd pace, and executed rather averagely, with average dialogue and an alright screenplay. Wasn't able to sympathise or care much about the main characters, and all the plot of the picture seemed to be crammed into the last 20 minutes to half hour. Lead performances are also well executed, although the lead actors may oversell their awkwardness of teen love. Ultimately, Say Anything is noteworthy because it stands out in a decade of formulaic teen films by being (slightly) more intelligent, and more heartwarming and authentic than those other films. It is evidently a truthful, realistic portrayal, though it is also undoubtedly, at least for my tastes, too slow, and too dull.

A Seattle high-school graduate with no apparent future, tired and for most part abandoned Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) sets his sights on the lovely Diane Court (Ione Skye), the class valedictorian, whom he had a chance encounter with at the town mall. After numerous valiant attempts and apparent successes, the two fall in love; however, while Lloyd is head over heels, Diane seems hesitant to maintain their relationship considering her recent fellowship at an acclaimed university and her father's trouble with the Internal Revenue Service. The romance between Cusack's Lloyd and Skye's Diane, although seemingly coming from out of nowhere, is still palpable and, as far as teen romance is concerned, very believable, and writer-director Cameron Crowe's bizarre and motor-mouthed dialogue perfectly suits the character of Lloydl; however, most of the scenes are stolen by John Cusack in what likely is his best performance to date; he fumbles over his words to accentuate the attitude of his character, and there are other moments when Cusack suddenly becomes the ultimate hero, even more involving than Rocky Balboa or Luke Skywalker at times; through the climax of the film it seems impossible not to root for Cusack, particularly the iconic scene forever cemented in teen movie history in which Lloyd stands outside of Diane's house next to his car, holding a boom box over his head and blasting Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" with a look of desperate heartache and lost pride on his face. An iconic date movie.

I'm not a big fan of and do not have a lot of knowledge about romantic films but it seems to me 'Say Anything' is just a mediocre film, nothing special really. I can't really identify with the '80's atmosphere since I'm a 90's ( and '00's) kid but I can see why this film can be nostalgia for some people. This being known as one of the best teen romances of the '80's makes me not want to see the others. It was fine but wasn't rewarding enough, didn't leave enough to ponder on after the credits were rolling. I guess I'm just saying 'Say Anything' didn't meet my requirements, it didn't fulfill any of the criteria of what makes a movie better than average according to me. I expect something special when watching, watching the same formulaic films every time leaves me yearning for more.

'Say Anything' isn't a bad movie, the acting's decent, the on screen chemistry's good, the plot is a little thin but OK. It's a great film for fans of the '80's teen film genre, can bring back a lot of teenage or childhood memories and so it's worth the watch for people who meet the fore-mentioned standards.

I'm a pretty big Cusack fan, have been ever since watching Runaway Jury, and I've been searching for more movies of his. Sadly, this is probably the worst film he's made that I've seen so far. Cusack's the reason I gave this film a 5.5, because everything else makes me want to give this film a 5. Just to clarify, a 5 is a mediocre movie in my book, not a bad one. I've given plenty of critically acclaimed movies 4 or less.

Decent, not good enough.

One of the rare 80's teen flicks that doesn't portray all teens as sex-crazed dimwits and all adults as lobotomized morons. An insightful, romantic comedy that only Cameron Crowe could give us.

In one of the many '80s teen movies, Seattle teens Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) and Diane Court (Ione Skye) fall in love the summer before she goes off to college. Although "Say Anything..." isn't any kind of great movie, Cameron Crowe brings the same interesting aspect to everything that he brought to "Jerry Maguire". If nothing else, the movie is a look at Seattle. Still, I wonder just how many movies about relationships there can be (obviously, so many that a few years ago, we had "Not Another Teen Movie"). But either way, this is worth seeing. Also starring Lili Taylor and Jason Gould.

"NEVER, EVER, EVER." Hmm...

That was one incredible line: "I gave her my heart and she gives me a pen." You could just feel the pain. I caught this tonight and was really surprised. Cusack was magnificent. Maybe I need to watch more of his movies to get some tips.

Ione Skye was so much more that "Girls in Prison." She really played a great part and was so sweet. She has that Drew Barrymore smile.

I really like Lili Taylor, too. She really played a great part. And, when he went to the guys, I swear I recognized one of them, but I can't place him.

All in all, I have to agree that this was one good movie.

I love John Cusack so much and this is maybe his best performance. On the other hand, the movie was pretty meh with some side plot stories going nowhere. Cliche moments with 1 iconic scene and that's all. The father plot was pretty weird.

Say what you might but this movie did nothing for me. Maybe even was a tad bit boring. I was waiting for that wow moment the whole time but nothing happened. Deeply disappointed.