An Inevitable 80's Flick by Kari

Saying Anything, written and directed by Cameron Crowe, is a light-hearted romantic comedy with realistic “close-to-home” issues. Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) is a fun, free-spirited teen just living life as it comes until his meets Diane Court (Ione Skye), an academically driven valedictorian. After graduation Lloyd finally works up the courage to call up Diane and ask her out. Diane is eager to actually get to know her fellow classmates, now that she is not so caught up in her schoolwork, so she agrees. Lloyd and Diane click right off the bat, and Diane finally feels like she belongs. The ongoing struggle in the film is that her father (John Mahoney) has a considerably hard time letting go of his baby girl to a young boy with no drawn out plan for his future.

Overall the film has a pretty simple plot, but John Cusack’s light humor gives it a quaint, unique flavor. The basic struggle is something almost anyone can somehow relate to: falling in love. But the movie also has other pieces to it that other people can relate with as well; single parenting, money, success, finding happiness, finding yourself, loyalty, making choices, and the list goes on. Success is one that definitely stuck out to me. The reason Diane feels like she doesn’t know any of her classmates is because her father raised her to focus fully on school, which didn’t allow her much free time. This reoccurs later on in the film when her and her father have to deal with some mistakes her father made. He made these mistakes because of his desire for success, thinking it would help him and his daughter.

The film didn’t have many “fancy” camera angles or scene changes, which made the movie has a more realistic feel. I think that would have taken away from the purpose of the movie. However, I did notice the lighting through out the movie was mostly brighter, happy colors. It added to making the movie have a light-hearted mood. During one of the “lowest” moments in the movie, it was dark and rainy, which was also the feeling the audience felt for the characters. The music also really added to giving the movie the same light-hearted mood. Say Anything was made in 1989, so the soundtrack was definitely some of your typical fun 80’s music, which was also paired with Jane Ruhm’s 80’s costume design. I especially loved the famous scene where Lloyd stands outside Diane’s bedroom and holds up a boom box playing your typical 80’s love song, In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel, which was written in 1986. It fit the movie and made the audience fall even more in love with Lloyd Dobler.

Even though this movie is somewhat under the category of “chick-flick” it is a funny, easy to watch kind of movie that anyone can enjoy. With it’s light-hearted comedy, and simple but realistic struggles, Say Anything is an inevitable 80’s film, which will brighten anyone’s day.