‘The world is full of guys. Be a man. Don’t be a guy…’
Fast Times at Ridgemont High, the first film written by Cameron Crowe, was dismissed in some quarters as being too raunchy. Roger Ebert famously described it as a “scuz-pit of a movie”. Perhaps in response to this criticism, Crowe turned to Say Anything…, a film that is much more about love than it is about sex…
Diane Court (Ione Skye) is about to graduate as valedictorian at a Seattle high school when she falls for lovable underachiever Lloyd Dobbler (John Cusack). While the difference in social status between the two threatens to keep them apart, it is the criminal investigation into Diane’s beloved father, Jim (John Mahoney), that provides the most compelling subplot of the movie. The talented supporting cast contains Lili Taylor, Jeremy Piven, Joan Cusack (natch), Eric Stoltz and, for one memorable scene, Philip Baker Hall.
There are only a few American actors who could pull off the part of Lloyd Dobbler. To play a character so seemingly perfect and not have the performance come across as overly smug and self-satisfied is a difficult task indeed. It’s difficult to imagine that Robert Downey Jr (who turned the part down) could have pulled it off. But this is what makes Cusack so compelling. He’s irresistible. You can’t help but root for him. Even in films like High Fidelity and Being John Malkovich, in which his characters are far from perfect, you still want him to succeed. And in this film, you particularly want Cusack and Skye to succeed together. She’s just as sweet and engaging as he is. In fact, the one criticism I could level at Say Anything… is that the conflict in the third act in which Diane breaks up with Lloyd feels contrived and unearned.
Everyone remembers the Romeo and Juliet homaging boombox sequence, but in many ways, it is the relationship between Diane and her father that provides the emotional heartbeat of the film (and the film’s title). Mahoney is great here because he’s convincing as both a doting father and a selfish criminal (although we perhaps didn’t need to see him take up smoking in prison to really drive the point home). The father and daughter relationship portrayed in the film is utterly convincing and this creates an unconventional love triangle that sets Say Anything… apart from some of its less sophisticated peers.
Say Anything… was to be Crowe’s final coming-of-age tale before Almost Famous and his last film set in a high school. As a sweet counterpoint to Fast Times… more bitter cynicism, it works perfectly. As a teen romance, it works perfectly. This is a film that understands that the first cut really is the deepest. And it’s all the better for it.
