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flick pick | Say Anything 1989 Directed + written by: Cameron Crowe Starring: John Cusack, Ione Skye, John Mahoney, Lili Taylor Language: English Look for it at the video store under: drama Watch it when you’re in the mood for something:  lovey The critic says: / 5 the rating system explained Fun factor: / 5

Plot synopsis On the day of their high school graduation, underachiever but all-around-great-guy Lloyd Dobler finally gets up the nerve to call up Diane Court, class valedictorian and, in the words of his best friends Corey and D.C., "a brain – trapped in the body of a game show hostess." LLoyd’s been obsessing over Diane since the day they shared a bench at the local mall, and despite the fact that the event proves more memorable in his mind than in hers, he proceeds to ask her out. After some cajoling, Diane finally agrees to let him take her to the senior class graduation party. At the party, everyone’s surprised to see Diane – and moreover, shocked at the previously unimaginable sight of Diane arriving with Lloyd – but no one’s more surprised than Diane when, just after dawn and with Lloyd walking her home, she realizes that she’s had a really great time. An unlikely romance develops between the two, but Diane’s conflicted as she finds herself coping with her father’s disapproval and the knowledge that she’ll be leaving for college in England soon. Then one day the IRS comes knocking on the door to investigate her father, the person in the world she adores more than any other. The news that her father’s not the person she once thought he was turns Diane’s world upside down, leaving her to wonder whether maybe for the first time in her life, she should stop letting her dad lead her life, and start making some decisions of her own.

Review It’s always a minor surprise to me when I see Say Anything included in a list of 80s teen flicks like Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink. Don’t get me wrong: I’m a loyal defender of the merits of John Hughes’ film work of that decade, but while I can’t watch those films without sinking deep, deep into nostalgia for my elementary/middle school days, Say Anything, more than a decade after its release, still strikes me as timeless. Like all Cameron Crowe films, the writing is funny and sensitive and poignant, full of real sentiment without ever turning sappy. But it’s the characters that make you fall in love with Say Anything: you just can’t have a compelling romance without first creating characters that the viewers can really care about, and with Lloyd Dobler and Diane Court, writer/director Crowe and his talented actors have crafted characters that feel as real and vulnerable and lovable – despite, no maybe because of their flaws – as anyone you might know in real life. (John Cusack’s Lloyd Dobler, in particular, would be my pick as the guy most likely to win a poll amongst a random sampling of 20something women of "Movie Character You’d Most Like To Have Walk off the Screen To Declare His Love for You." Lloyd’s the perfect boyfriend. And Cusack’s the perfect Lloyd.) There are some who call Say Anything a great teen flick. Me, I just think it’s a great flick, period. —reviewed by Y. Sun   

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