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Say Anything...
20th Century Fox


9.6

based on 17 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 13 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13

Starring John Cusack, Ione Skye, John Mahoney, Lili Taylor, Amy Brooks, Loren Dean, Jeremy Piven, and Joan Cusack

John Cusack plays Lloyd Dobler--an average guy with a penchant for kickboxing. There is only one thing that all-around nice guy Lloyd wants for his high school graduation: a date with beautiful valedictorian Diane Court (Skye). Lloyd's dream comes true when Diane accepts his invitation to a graduation party. Diane falls for Lloyd, whose goal is to spend as much time with her as possible. Their budding romance is put to the test when Diane has to choose between pursuing her academic dreams and spending time with him. John Mahoney is first-rate as Diane's father, a single parent who wants only the best for his brilliant daughter but who harbors a serious secret that the IRS is investigating. [20th Century Fox]

GENRE(S):	Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Cameron Crowe
DIRECTED BY:	Cameron Crowe
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: March 5, 2002 Video: March 2, 1998 Theatrical: April 4, 1989
RUNNING TIME:	100 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Entertainment Weekly Staff (Not Credited)

It all comes down to one scene: John Cusack, standing at dusk, boom box aloft, blaring Peter Gabriel's ''In Your Eyes'' outside Ione Skye's window. This, friends, is what rapturous, heartrending, soul-spinning love is all about.

100

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

"Heathers" may view teenagers more caustically, but this movie, incomparably better, actually delivers the goods.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

That such intelligence could be contained in a movie that is simultaneously so funny and so entertaining is some kind of a miracle.

100

Film Threat Brad Laidman

To me, Say Anything is without a shadow of a doubt the most rewarding, funny, and likable romance of the last twenty years. It heralds the decency of romantic love against the gears of a cold, grinding mechanical world.

Wall Street Journal Julie Salamon

[Crowe] knows how to shape a scene and he's never cheap with characterization; adults are permitted to be as complex as their children; a rare event in pictures. [18 May 1989, p.A14(E)]

Washington Post Hal Hinson

It's hard to remember a recent love story -- maybe "Moonstruck" -- that's as involving as this one. This is not to suggest that the two movies are in the same league, but this is a teen movie that transcends its teen limitations.

Los Angeles Times Sheila Benson

A film of warmth, insight, humor and surprising originality… [It] isn't perfect, but when it's good, which is every moment John Cusack is on screen, it's a living joy. And when it's not-so-good--earthbound and not inventive enough--it s till almost single-handedly redeems the breed. [14 April 1989]

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Cusack invests such sincerity in his portrayal of Lloyd that it's impossible not to root for him to get the girl. He's the classic underdog that we all think of ourselves as -- earnest, engaging, and impossible to resist because of his flaws, rather than in spite of them.

Chicago Tribune Dave Kehr

Complex, knotty and at times even uncomfortable; its world has a weight and heft that makes its ultimate romanticism seem genuinely transcendant, genuinely magical. [14 April 1989]

TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)

Seldom have such complexity, emotional depth, honesty, and realism been invested in what is ostensibly a teen love story.

The New Yorker Pauline Kael

John Cusack and Mahoney have to carry the unconvincing melodramatic portion of the plot, but they carry it stunningly. [15 May 1989]

Empire Caroline Westbrook

Avoiding the 80s staple of angsty adolescence, Crowe has constructed an intelligent, witty yet undeniably cute tale, showing the potential that would be realised in Singles and Jerry Maguire, and giving Cusack's warm-hearted Lloyd the perfect foil in Skye's prissy model of student perfection.

USA Today Tom Green

Crowe has invented a fresh character in Lloyd Dobler, and Cusack has invested him with an ingratiating persona that helps avert disaster when things become a bit melodramatic in the final resolution. [14 April 1989]

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

More than the standard, cranked-out genre piece. Its characters linger in your mind, and the quality of its actors lift the movie into another league. [14 April 1989]

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

With his breathy, antic delivery, pouring out his heart in staccato bursts, Cusack puts a nice loop on the sensitive teen theme. For his is an upbeat, mature brand of sensitivity, the healthy kind that makes fine discriminations, not nasty judgments.

The New York Times Caryn James

The predictable surface of Say Anything is constantly being cracked by characters who think and talk like real people and by John Cusack's terrifically natural, appealing Lloyd.

Variety Staff (Not Credited)

A half-baked love story, full of good intentions but uneven in the telling.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.6 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Susan L. gave it a9:
A skewed love story built on the American class system. Director Cameron Crowe is a marvel.

Juha H. gave it a10:
The best Cameron Crowe movie! And that's saying a lot.

Genevieve N. gave it a 10:
This film is #1 in my list John Cusack & Ione Skye give amazing performances as a teenage Romeo & Juliet.

Romeo gave it a 10:
Really sweet film... too bad this never happen in real life.

Riley M. gave it a 10:
I wish that there was a lloyd dobler at my school. such a classic story.

Pat C. gave it a 10:
Regards adolescence as a lonely battlefield rather than a place to wallow in peer pressure. "There's lot's of guys. Don't be a guy. Be a man." This show is top of the heap for teen situation flicks.

David L. gave it a 10:
This movie shows how traditional, yet smart, storytelling, when combined with honest performances, creates something so real and exciting that one can almost forget they are watching a story about two high school students in love. This is not your typical teenage movie about sex and puppylove.

Say Anything... 20th Century Fox

Say Anything...
20th Century Fox