Say Anything...(1989)

Directed by Cameron Crowe

Released April 14th, 1989

Written by Cameron Crowe

Movie Synopsis Courtesy of IMDB

"A noble underachiever and a beautiful valedictorian fall in love the summer before she goes off to college."

Okay, I am going to admit, I think this is one of the most overrated 80s movies. People seem to remember this movie for the simple fact of the iconic boombox scene. But I bet most people don't even remember the name of this movie or the plot, they just remember the boombox scene and automatically remember it as a great movie. Well it's not!

Let's start off with the iconic boombox scene. Seems like a fair place to start.  

First of all, this scene is so anti-climatic! It had potential to be great and iconic, but it fell so flat. Using the song that they made love to for the first time, yes. Coming to her house to prove that he cares about her and wants to be with her, yes. But what was accomplished? Nothing. She just laid there in her bed and listened to the song. She didn't get up to go look out the window, she didn't run downstairs to talk to him or kiss him, in fact she didn't talk to him until she realized her dad was a crook. So basically, this romantic gesture was a waste, didn't move the relationship along, and is built up to be so great, yet it is in fact one of the most unromantic scenes there could be. 

Also, this is more of an editing note, but the transition from this scene to the next was very abrupt. Actually, most of the transitions were abrupt and kind of jarring. The scenes didn't linger and give you a chance to take in what just happened. There weren't smooth video/audio transitions to move you from place to place. It was just oh the scene is done, quick cut to the next scene, and keep it moving. It felt like the editing of the movie was rushed and they were trying to get as much in as they could, so they didn't bother with fancy transitions or letting scenes linger too long. 

I also thought that the audio mix/sound effects of this movie were poorly done as well. The background nosies/sound effects in some scenes felt forced and stereotypical, like having loud birds in every outdoor scene. The audio editing on the phone call between Diane and Lloyd was awful, Diane sounded like she was in a hollow room and not on the other end of the phone call. The music from the boombox should have been quieter and more mumbled inside Diane's room and then louder when we went outside to him playing it full-blast, but instead it sounded the exact same and was the same loudness. Just overall, the audio and sound effects in this movie was terrible and someone needs to read an audio 101 book.

I might as well get all my ranting out of the way now. Lloyd Dobler is a weird freakin' dude! You know his friends keep building him up and saying things like oh, wouldn't you fall in love with a guy like Lloyd, or more guys should be like Lloyd, but the dude is weird! I am sorry, but between the way he talks, how he just decided one day he wants to go out with the smartest girl in school without knowing her, how he looks at her during the graduation speech, the "picture" he takes with her at graduation, how he introduces himself to her dad, the trench coat he wears (because what high schooler walks around in a trench coat all the time), I could keep going but the bottom line is he is all around weird and creepy. I would almost say it could be borderline stalkerish...

Enough ranting about this movie, I think there are still many fun nuances of the 80s in this movie that made it entertaining.

The first is at the graduation when all of the parents whip out the camcorders. That is such an 80s thing to do. I know camcorders were big in the 90s as well, but clearly they first started to get big in the 80s. People used to videotape everything on those things and would bring them everywhere! Documenting births, graduations, family vacations, goofy things the kids did with their friends, the list goes on. I think it is sad that these have lost their steam in the modern day of cellphones. Think about it, most of you reading this probably have tape after tape of family videos at your house or your parents' house. But kids now-a-days, won't have that. People just take out their phones and will take short videos here and there or post some pictures online. People aren't going to take their phone videos and put it on a DVD or in the cloud for their kids to have "home videos." It is sort of a dying trend and I think it is really sad. Part of the fun of growing up, is knowing that your parents documented your life on video. Years later you can go back and watch it to see what you were like back then and remember old friends or activities you used to do. I know whenever I have kids, I am going to go out, buy a videocamera and make sure that they will have home videos to watch when they are older. Long live home videos! (Might be a good time to think about "America's Funniest Home Videos" and how limited their time probably is because of this trend).

Can we also throwback to our childhood when we used to have to call the house phone and leave a message with our friends' parents. That was always so terrifying to me because adults made me nervous. Can you image what is was like for guys or girls trying to ask someone out and them having to talk to the parents first, or leave a message with them? All I have to say is thank God for cellphones. This is the only time I will cut Lloyd some slack for being weird because I would have been just as weird and nervous as he was when he had to call Diane's house. 

Break-ups. They are messy, uncomfortable, hard, and many other things, but the bottom line is we have all been there. It is never your intention when you date someone that you want to break-up with them, if it was then you should have never dated them in the first place. But situations like this one are extremely hard because it isn't the relationship that is the problem, it is just the timing of it is bad. I understand where Diane was going with this, but the two of them were already in love, they had sex, she was going through hard things with her dad, and she had no other friends. So honestly, she was being an idiot. Why would she want to push away the one person she had to lean on and help her through the things with her dad and who was going to support her with her fellowship in England? He knew what he was getting himself into, he even admitted that after their first date. He has been nothing but devoted to her this whole time, saying multiple times that his only goal is to be with her, yet she thinks breaking up with him will help? Clearly not, since she came running back to him. 

The last thing that I want to talk about in this movie is the jail scene. For many reasons this scene seemed so wrong. First of all, when you go visit people in prison, they are not going to let you visit them in the big open yard. Yes, let's put you in a big open space where other inmates can come up to you and shank you if they feel like it. Let's make sure the guards don't watch you carefully to make sure you aren't about to strangle your guest. Secondly, they are not just going to let you give someone a letter without the guards inspecting it first. They are going to search it to make sure you aren't trying to sneak anything into the prison. Thirdly, when they say visiting time is over, they aren't going to give you an extra five minutes to finish your conversation and then let in another visitor (Diane). No, if visiting hours are over that means now and they are going to kick you out. Now I know I have never been to a prison, but this whole scene seems so backwards compared to every other jail scene in movies that I have scene.

Well that's it for now, let me know if you want to "Say Anything" else about this movie. 

Diane Court:  "Nobody thinks it will work, do they?"

Lloyd Dobler: "No. You just described every great success story."