Say Anything (1989)

Directed by Cameron Crowe. Starring John Cusack, Ione Skye, John Mahoney, Lili Taylor, Amy Brooks, Joan Cusack, Loren Dean, Jason Gould, Jeremy Piven, Eric Stoltz, Pamela Adlon. [PG-13]

Peerless teen romance of earnest Army brat, Lloyd Dobler (“looking for a dare to be a great situation”), pursuing sheltered scholar, Diane Court (“a brain trapped in the body of a game show hostess”). Honest and heartfelt, tender and awkward, it’s as assured about what it wants to do as Lloyd is about spending as much time as possible with Diane before she leaves for England on an academic fellowship. Both of them have their confidants—he has his heartsick pragmatist friend (Taylor), she has her protective and seemingly decent father (Mahoney)—and the latter relationship is almost as crucial as the sweet love story, where trust and understanding are tested in unexpected ways. It’s arguable that the film can’t quite handle the melodramatic story turns down the stretch, and that the ending is a little too pat and idealized, but there’s no point resisting such genuine and charming characters, defined by specific grace notes and universal appeal. Besides, writer/director Crowe’s screenplay gets so many of the little details right (like how anxious Lloyd dials the first six digits of Diane’s telephone number and hesitates before hitting the last one to ask her out) and comes up with so many funny lines in context (“That was a mistake”), that only a sour cynic with a tin ear for swooning Peter Gabriel worldbeat ballads couldn’t admire it. James L. Brooks executive produced. Joan Cusack went unbilled as Lloyd’s sister; Philip Baker Hall, Bebe Neuwirth, Lois Chiles, and even Don “The Dragon” Wilson make brief appearances.

91/100