Honesty is a difficult thing to come by in the real world. It’s even harder to find in relationships. And once it’s found, it requires more than enough from the people involved to maintain. Director Cameron Crowe’s 1989 film Say Anything shows audiences young and old the value of honesty in any loving relationship. Say Anything is a brilliant depiction of how scary it can be to allow ourselves to be completely vulnerable to the ones we love. Say Anything was Crowe’s directorial debut and has been since held in high esteem by film lovers as one of the most loved romantic-comedy-dramas of all time. The film follows the story of Lloyd Dobler, played by John Cusack, and his fight to win the heart of the class valedictorian Diane Court, played by Ione Skye, in the weeks after their high school graduation. Time is ticking away for Lloyd, since Diane has won a fellowship to study abroad in England which begins shortly after her graduation.
Lloyd and Diane come from two different social worlds. Lloyd is charming, endearing, sensitive to women, and gets along with everyone. In short, he’s an all around good guy. Diane is socially awkward. She is known amongst her peers by her achievements in school, but she realizes that she doesn’t have any real connections with anyone except her father. Lloyd is adamant about wanting to take a chance on Diane, willing to face rejection over regret. Diane allows Lloyd to take her to a house party, where she is able to meet the kids she’s been in school with for years. Everyone knows and likes Lloyd, allowing Diane to feel comfortable with him as well as with those around her for the first time. The two embark on the tentative journey of getting to know one another, amidst the pressures from their own friends and family about what “should” happen between the two of them. Due to her impending fellowship in England, Diane’s father Jim, played by John Mahoney, insists that she break it off with Lloyd. Jim falls into financial trouble with the IRS, and Diane begins to feel torn between the her father and her erstwhile boyfriend. The pressure Lloyd and Diane both feel about the future soon takes its toll, and it isn’t long before the pair are brought face to face with the jarring reality of their situation. As events unfold, they are put to the test in the many ways love can test us all.
The real beauty of Say Anything lies in the dialogue of the film. The title itself is a stark allusion to the content of the film, in which the characters can and in fact are “saying anything” to each other. Throughout the film, the characters expose their true selves, making them easier to relate to for audiences than the guarded, prideful characters we often find in movies about love. While this detail is not as prominently featured in Lloyd and Diane’s relationship as one might expect, it is overwhelmingly resonant in the relationship Diane shares with her father. Where cinematic relationships between fathers and daughters are concerned, the dynamic of their relationship is unique, in the way Diane will share, and is encouraged to share, anything and everything with her father. Clearly Jim is Diane’s closest confidant, which only adds to the stress she feels as she becomes further invested in her relationship with Lloyd.
Crowe doesn’t hold back with the romance either, and it often comes through most strongly in the resonance of small details. For example, Lloyd consistently remarks on the beauty of Diane’s eyes throughout the film. The two consummate their love to Peter Gabriel’s song “In Your Eyes.” Later in the story, Lloyd makes his last stand in one of the most iconic scenes in modern film history, holding a boombox playing the same song over his head outside Diane’s window. Cusack’s portrayal of Lloyd is emotionally intense and would make anyone swoon. For Lloyd, love comes first. He believes everything else will eventually fall into place. Diane’s sees life the opposite way, and her concerns make growing up a more challenging prospect. But when the two meet each other in the middle, it works.
Not all film critics were moved by Say Anything. Both Variety and the New York Times responded negatively to the film, seemingly unimpressed with its mixing of romantic comedy and drama, its supposedly inaccurate depiction of what high school relationships are “really like,” and the unevenness in the plot’s development. These critics didn’t seem to grasp the element of honesty that allows the film to link three genres in an uneven fashion. It works because that’s how it actually happens. Relationships, like life, contain multiple genres. Widening the net of a film’s content allows it to be more relatable. Crowe achieved that with a close to home flavor that came through in the situations he created for the characters. Fresh out of high school, scared of what’s ahead, and facing adult problems for the first time, Lloyd and Diane take these challenges head-on in endearing and realistic fashion. They come to life through intensely accurate performances by incredibly talented actors. Audiences can feel the sincerity of the film’s content, and that has made it beloved by many generations.
Overall, though, the film received positive response. Roger Ebert remarks in his review of Say Anything that its “one of the best films of the year (1989) — a film that is really about something, that cares deeply about the issues it contains — and yet it also works wonderfully as a funny, warmhearted romantic comedy.” Ebert even went on to include it in his Great Movies List, writing in reference to the film, “Say Anything exists entirely in a real world, is not a fantasy or a pious parable, has characters who we sort of recognize, and is directed with care for the human feelings involved.” It’s a truly timeless film, and is perhaps one of the most comforting love stories ever told. Say Anything will make you fall in love with love, and you will never look at broken glass on the sidewalk in the same way again.
