User reviews

Absolutely charming, an old school romance that would never see the light of day in the noughties.

Full of genuinely funny moments, particularly from Shelley Long chastising her infant on the dangers of sticking fingers in sockets or eating oil covered bolts in a non-chalont manner. Leads look great and have the timing for comedy. Jamie Gertz never fails to charm.

Funny, romantic, inspiring and beautiful, says this soppy old romantic.

The on-screen chemistry between Jami Gertz and Steve Guttenberg is excellent in this movie and it is this chemistry which makes the movie so appealing. Not a blockbuster movie, but one which can be enjoyed for the fact that it is a pleasant feel good story. Jami Gertz is particularly good in this film , it is a shame that she has not appeared more often in the late 90's apart from her appearance in "Twister". Great performance also from Shelley Long.

Having just won a battle against leukemia cartoonist Gus Kubicek (Guttenberg)is bald, chubby and not to mention lonely his novelist sister Lizzie Potts (Long) tries to set him up with suitable women. Emily Pear (Gertz) is a young and beautiful reporter whose looking for the right man, after a disastrous first meeting with Gus Lizzie takes it upon herself to transform her brother into a hunk of a man. After a new makeover Lizzie gives him a new name not to mention accent he is now known as Lobo a bad boy biker from New Zealand. Emily finds herself in love with him but Gus wonders if she could ever love the man he really is or a fake dream guy. Steve Guttenberg gave a funny yet touchy performance as Gus Kubicek and Lobo while Jamie Gertz adds a nice touch as his love interest 7/10 Stars

I remember watching this movie when I was a mere slip of a boy. I really enjoyed it, as I recall. Granted, the plot was sort of hard to believe, but I think the storytelling more than made up for it. This is definitely a good movie. It's good to see if you're wanting a pick me up, because you'll walk away just smiling and thinking, "Yes, all is right with the world". It's bad to see if you are lacking a significant other, because you'll walk away with this wistful feeling in your heart, thinking, "I wish that were me". Seriously. In any event, I advise renting it.

I won't recommend you run to the store and buy this, but it's better you rent it and see for yourself. It's not exactly the greatest movie in the world, particularly in the romance category, but it's entertaining and has a cute little love story surrounding the plot.

This is a romance with a top cast of experienced actors who really click together. Shelly Long also starred as a class act in 'Troop Beverly Hills' as a fashion-minded Wilderness Girl's (sort of like the Girl Scouts) leader. In this movie, she is a top-selling romance writer with the pen name of Vivica Lamoreaux.

In "Don't Tell Her It's Me", which I did read the book, the movie starts with Gus, a cartoon artist and survivor of a year of radiation treatments and chemotherapy who is finally cured but still looks all swollen up like a living Mr. Potatohead. He is bearing up under his awful looks with the help of his irrepressible and upbeat older sister, Shelly Long as Lizzie Potts.

What makes this movie so transcendental and such a grabber is that with the help of Lizzie, Gus is transformed from a hopeless reject into every woman's dream of the perfect romance rogue. He works off the fat and swollenness, and his hair grows back, and he becomes--well--shall we say, Steve Guttenburg at his lady-killer best? The fact that he is not a real rogue, but that Lizzie is helping him to look and act like one, moves the viewer to transports as Gus actually achieves the look more completely than a real rogue could possibly manage. In fact, he retains his intrinsic 'niceness' while outwardly making a masterly showing of being the ultimate romantic rake, a motorcycle-riding long-hair who goes by the name of 'Lobo Marunga'.

Gus' intended target, Emily Pear, on whom he is hopelessly stuck, is played by lovely Jami Gertz, who is torn inwardly between whether to fall for -and permanently tie the knot with- her secretly unfaithful newspaper boss, Trout, played by Kyle MacLachlan, or to go for Lobo, the totally unexpected wild card in her otherwise dead-end life. Emily is endlessly polite to a fault throughout the movie, as well as sexy, articulate, compassionate, and a total fox. She affects this fazed-out look at times in perfect response to various situational predicaments which is infinitely expressive.

The transformation of potato-Gus into lean muscular rogue Lobo pulls at the heart, as a hopeless reject becomes every lonely woman's fantasy ideal, and it is done believably in the personification of Steve Guttenberg. There is even a medical doctor listed in the film credits at the end, as a consultant on the disease Gus is recovering from. Also, the special effects and make-up department succeed in making Gus look like a real medical patient recovering from the disease. It's not fakey at all. He really looks it.

My trust never felt betrayed by the actors' performances, or how they portrayed themselves. Shelly Long has an amazing range of facial expressions, with her eyes the most expressive of all. Steve Guttenberg makes the most fantastic and enjoyable changes in appearance from potato Gus to lean heart-stealer Lobo, and finally to super Mr. Nice Guy. Jami Gertz has a way with silent looks that must be seen to be believed. Kyle MacLachlan is a very funny two-timer in an off-handed way that is never affected and actually humorous. Not to be overlooked is beautiful American-born Madchen Amick, Trout's secret playmate, who is actually half German, a quarter Norwegian, and a quarter Swedish; as well as Lizzie Potts' husband, Mitchell Potts, played by equally funny and experienced Kevin Scannell; the married stunt team of Tony and Jeannie Epper, the authentic motorcyclist John 'Speed' Finlay, and others.

The movie makes skillful use of contrasts and contrivances, such as the little boy on a bicycle watching Lobo dance with Jamie, a boy who might well one day become a future 'Lobo' lady-killer himself. Also, while Lobo is competing with Trout for Emily, Lizzie Potts is cheerfully hanging stuffed trout decorations on her living room wall. And it's wrong to 'borrow' someone else's motorcycle without permission, but it's more 'okay' somehow if you hook and tear your dress on it first (like; it 'owes' you something, right?) and are deeply in love with its owner and desperate to get him back.

There is no down-and-out nitty-gritty genuine hatred of anyone by anyone in this movie, and the non-stop competition for Emily's searching heart reaches awesome levels. It's a very adorable story with the ultimate happy ending.

The book this movie is based on is titled "The Boyfriend School". The original movie and VHS were titled "Don't Tell Her It's Me", but when they re-released it on DVD, they re-adopted the title "The Boyfriend School".

This movie was neither romantic or comedic. Don't kno which was worse for Gus: The cancer or his dominating sister. Films like this are why this Genre has fizzled out in U. S.

Not being a native speaker it is sometimes hard for me to understand what is the meaning of some words because we don't have an equivalent in my language. One of such words is cute, neither beautiful nor attractive. I was explained it's like somehow good or beautiful but not enough. This movie is just like that. Unless you are totally romantic you gonna hate this film. I mean predictable story, lots of overused moments and twists, classical ending... I loved it! The thing is the film is good at it's main purpose, it is romantically charming. And that means a lot, at least to me. It's a good-natured film about good-natured people for the good-natured viewers.

But I just can't because the book is one of my favorite books of all time. I'm pretty reasonable when it comes to movie adaptations of books. I realize that you can't typically cram a book into a two hour movie, although there are some notable exceptions, especially with LotR out there.

Regardless, I expected so much more from this movie, especially since the author of the book, Sarah Bird, wrote the screen play. Bird herself called it "an exceedingly mediocre screenplay made into an exceedingly mediocre movie", so I guess she knows how some of us feel.

It's worth a watch on one of those days when you're bored with the Hallmark Channel, but really, go buy the book. Lizzie is so much more interesting and there are characters that aren't in the movie at all who are amazing people that I want to know. (The book is set in Austin, so if you've ever lived there, you'll appreciate it that much more.)

I am a fan of romantic movies but this one was sorely lacking. The movie is supposed to be about a guy falling in love with a beautiful girl and then going to extraordinary lengths to get her. Well, my biggest problem with the movie was why he would go after the Jamie Gertz character. Her character is pretty but she's also very shallow. She rejected him for his looks at the beginning of the movie. Her character was not very sympathetic. If anything once he won her over as Lobo he should have dumped her so she could know how rejection felt. Anyhow, if you want to see a good romantic movie watch Cannery Row, Tootsie, Starting Over, or The Princess Bride.

Loved this movie!

Shelley Long is outstanding in this smart, well written, well acted comedy! She created a memorable character who is as hilarious as she is charming. I don't want to short-change the rest of the cast, however---Steve Gutenberg and Jami Gertz were wonderful and had great chemistry together.

I didn't even know about this movie when it came out in 1990. Was it not promoted at all? What a shame, and thank goodness for DVDs!

All three of these actors should have been in more movies and had more promotion. When I think of some of the awkward writing, wooden acting, and just downright awful movies I have seen over the years, it makes me truly ill to think of actors of this caliber being overlooked.

Watching this movie was a lovely way to spend an afternoon!

The Boyfriend School is a classic tale and it goes a little something like this: A socially awkward (but good-natured) cancer survivor falls in love with a beautiful woman whom he knows virtually nothing about, except that she's attractive and not the least bit interested in him as a person. His sister, a trashy romance novelist, helps him out by putting him through a rigorous diet and exercise plan. She also advises him to change his name, ethnicity, and adopt the characteristics of a standard, douche-bag Alpha-male. Wahla! He blossoms from a pale, sickly, bald guy named Gus to a bronzed, hard-bodied beach bro (with a curly blond Lorenzo Lamas-lookin' mullet) named Lobo. Suddenly the object of his desire is interested. Of course, at some point he has to come clean about who he really is and she has to realize that while she was so caught up in the superficial, she failed to realize that Gus was the man of her dreams all along... yadayadayada. What's the point of this story? Inner-beauty triumphs over outer-beauty. Of course, you have to look good in order for people to even want to get to know your inner-beauty. Oh, and it doesn't matter if you're a superficial nitwit because there will always be some dude out there happy to change himself to be the man of your dreams. Message received, Hollywood. Thanks a lot!

Yes Shelley Long at her best as Lizzie Potts with a nome de plume of Vivecca Lamoreaux a romance novel writer An American look a like of the English Emma with Lizzie as the interfering sister trying to marry off her brother Gus The whole caste in this film were excellent including a little girl called Annabelle and a dog called killer. This film was a joy to watch from beginning to end and though not what I would call funny was definitely good fun. Shelley spelling out to Annabelle the consequences of eating engine oil, inhaling gas and eating bugs was an absolute master stroke carried off by Miss Long. The ending was so good because when the happy couple are flying off and you think thats it there is Shelley with a massive big pair of binoculars watching the plane and says "Alright. Two points to the Gus plusher. Oh amore amore amore". Shelley interacts with youngsters so well that you can see its something she loves doing.

I associate Steve Guttenberg with B-movies. However, I thought he actually did a very credible job in "Don't Tell Her It's Me." I especially liked his portrayal of the bald and bloated Gus.

"Don't Tell Her It's Me" is also on TV and DVD as "The Boyfriend School," which is also the title of the very funny book by Sarah Bird on which the movie is based. Sarah Bird also is credited with the screenplay for the film, which appears to have been her first attempt to write for the film industry. I am guessing that she accepted too many suggestions from people with more film experience than she had, because the movie is so below the quality of the book. Someone even convinced her to change the title, although later it was changed back to the book's title.

The film begins with a clever, if not original, device of restarting the movie when the narrator, Lizzie Potts (Shelley Long), a best-selling romance novel author, changes her mind about what she is composing in her mind. Her mind drifts to her younger brother, Gus (Steve Guttenberg), who we learn is a cartoonist. Gus is recovering after finishing 2-years of treatments, for Hodgkin's Disease, that caused him temporarily to be bloated and hairless. We see some of Gus' cartoons about his medical exams in animated form. This part of the movie I liked. The film went downhill from there.

Lizzie is concerned that Gus never had much of a social life and his medical problems aggravated his poor interaction with people his age, so she fixes him up with Emily (Jami Gertz), an intelligent and attractive but nerdy reporter she meets at a book signing. Emily tells Lizzie she would love to meet a man who is sensitive and cares about her. She claims that physicality doesn't matter. However, after Lizzie, her husband, Emily and Gus meet for a disastrous dinner, Emily rejects Gus because he is not physically attractive.

Lizzie decides she needs to shape Gus into every girl's dream date using her considerable knowledge of what her young female readers seek in a man. The rest of the movie is a predictable story of Gus changing, assuming a more exotic identity, and Emily becoming in love with his assumed persona. Of course the crisis is that eventually he has to reveal who he really is.

My problem with the film is several stale and sophomoric bits of humor that have little to do with advancing the plot. This includes a scene where Emily fills her mouth with some bad-tasting strange-looking exotic food at the dinner party. It is missing whatever humor made the original book such a success. In addition, someone decided to tack on incidental music that sounds like Muzak and doesn't even fit the tempo of the on-screen action. I also found myself dreading the few times Mitchell, Lizzy's husband, appeared. He was supposed to be a funny character. I found him irritating, not funny.

The Boyfriend School has to be my favorite comic novel of all time, followed closely by Kotzwinkle's Midnight Examiner. I was disappointed that the screenplay told the story from Gus's point of view, which removed the element of surprise that made the novel so wonderful. Gretchen got turned into an "Emily," when one of her self-esteem issues had to do with her name.

And what happened to Juanita? I loved Juanita! I can't bear to talk about what was done to the character of Trout. However, the casting of the main characters, Lizzie, Gus, and the newly christened "Emily," was excellent. I'm waiting for a remake from the point of view of Gretchen. The novel is still at the top of my list and lying in permanent repose on my nightstand, with a "loaner" copy available for my friends.

Steve Guttenberg could've turned his career around if he'd chosen better serious roles as he was clearly capable of delivering great performances. Unfortunately, he'd rather stick to this kind of light romcom and other similar films resulting to an early 'retirement' in showbiz. Please note that the comedy aspect in this film was very little. The beginning was promising including a recovering cancer patient (considering not many cancer related films were produced back then) showing some realism in the main character making the viewer sympathise and think of post cancer life. That's all good until the film turns the other way round into a goofy silly story revolving this shallow woman and the need to please her through Gus's (Steve Guttenberg character) new appearance. This is an insult to post cancer patients who continue struggling with depression and heavy medication for a quite some time. Add to that, Gus's silly 'cartoonish character' of a sister who's an absolute nightmare on screen. Overall, the film was 100% predictable and a nuisance.

I found that this was a very enjoyable film and even though films like this(probably smaller budget, not a lot of hype, etc.)may not get the critics raves, it IS a good rental or cable view for anyone who likes the "star-crossed" lovers theme with a lot of the silly hi-jinx that usually surround them.

I absolutely ADORE Steve Guttenburg no matter what he plays in especially due to his boyish likability and the "attainable" characters he usually plays. Not to mention, he is an absolute HOTTIE! As for the rest of the cast, they were all chosen well especially Jami Gertz and Shelly Long. All in all a good, CLEAN(which is hard to find these days) and fun little movie. My thumbs up! lol

Without going into much detail of the actual plot itself, let me just say that this was _the_ first movie I asked for as a special-occasion gift.

I loved it better than I did the movie "Pretty Woman", the first time I saw that one.

Every time after I rented this movie (before I got my own copy), I felt better than I'd felt before watching it, at the end of a bad work-day or whatever. _Every_ time. {{;'-)

--Maybe partly because the two main love-interests' "financial-class" and preferred-job-types are so much closer to my own real-life ones.

--And because I already like the town which was the main setting for this film, and because it seems to me there's a softer, much more "wistfully-shimmery" feeling to most of the lighting and color (as I said, I'm a graphic-artist myself) in this than there was "Pretty Woman"...at least in my opinion.

--Not to mention I liked the overall type of humor in this a bit better. :)

I'm sure there're some folks who might consider it a bit too "syrup-y". But I loved it.

The only reason I didn't give it a slightly higher rating, incidentally, was (w/o giving away any surprises) simply that I felt there were a very few (but slight:) "loopholes" in the storyline, perhaps.

In general, though, I thought it was wonderful.