Say Anything

If you are of a certain age/generation (mostly likely Generation X-which I am a member of) than you’re probably a John Cusack fan. This fandom is mostly due to 3 films-The Sure Thing (1985), Better Off Dead (1985), & Say Anything...(1989). I would like to take a closer look at each film.                                                                                Last & certainly least is Say Anything...(1989). I think this film is highly overrated. Yes a lot of women especially those of my generation will tell this is one of the most romantic films ever made & they will cite the scene with Lloyd Dobler (Cusack) holding up the boom box under Diane Court (Ione Skye) window as it plays “In Your Eyes” as a big reason why. Ah the beauty of Hollywood magic! If you have seen the behind the scenes footage of that scene the real song that Cusack played on the boom box was Fishbone’s “Turn the Other Way.” But the film’s writer/director Cameron Crowe knew that wasn’t right & he kept looking until he found in “In Your Eyes” which obviously was the correct choice. Through I like the scene (and in real life the cops properly would had a talk with Lloyd Dobler about this) one scene does not make a romantic movie.  This is a case where wrong casting almost sinks a movie. Iona Skye isn’t up to the lead role of Diane Court who is described by two of Lloyds friends is “a brain trapped in the body of a game-show hostess.” Iona Skye isn’t pretty enough to be game-show hostess, nor does she comes across as brain. The scene that best illustrates this is her father who runs an old folks home is under investigation by the IRS for filing false tax returns. He isn’t reporting his true income because the IRS believes he’s keeping his residents money after they die. Diane doesn’t believes this so she goes to talk to man who leading the investigation (Philip Baker Hall who gives a wonderful performance. He is both sympathetic & determined to get this person for the crime he is believed to have committed.) She tells him that she thought that by wearing grown-up clothes that he would take her seriously. The problem is she isn’t wearing grown up clothes, she’s wearing the clothes that an 18 year old young lady would wear to hang out with her friends or go out with her boyfriend. The outfit is a white buttoned up shirt with the sleeves rolled up & button up, a pink miniskirt, & keds. This is a young lady who was the valedictorian of her graduating class and she’s going to England on a fellowship and this what she wears to go talk to IRS agent in charge of her father’s case? Was there something wrong with her graduation dress or the outfit she wore to her interview for the fellowship? What a shame because John Cusack is so right as Lloyd Dobler. This is probably his best performance. Equally good is John Mahoney as Diane’s Court father Jim Court. He seems like the kind of dad anyone would want until we learn his terrible secret. He is indeed keeping his residents money after they die. But he isn’t doing it for himself; he’s doing it for his daughter. He doesn’t want to her to want for anything. Talk doing a horrible thing for a noble reason. There’s a great scene involving this IRS subplot. Jim Court’s attorney is eating take-out food at the desk of one of the IRS agent investigating the case. He (Jim Court) has decided to plead guilty to the charges so the attorney & the IRS agent are bartering over jail time (which the IRS wants & gets) & the amount of a fine (an amount is agreed upon). What makes this scene so good is there is no emotion between the two. Its presented very matter- of-factly as two people who have done this sort of thing before & will again.  Another strength of the film is the script especially the dialogue. The film is filled with memorable dialogue which the majority does a great job of delivering expect for you guessed it-Iona Skye. Monday morning quarterbacking it there are only two ways to fix this film-replace Iona Skye or flopping the roles. Let’s look at the first option. Who was the appropriate age at this time (1988-89) who are both pretty & smart? I’m not gonna lie I had a hard time with this. I read a book “Pretty In Pink: The Golden Age of Teenage Movies” which was about teen movies of this time period & the author (Jonathan Bernstein) thought Uma Thurmond should have had the role. I also read on the website Pajiba that Jennifer Connelly almost got the part of Diane Court & through I didn’t come up with her once I read it that seems like she would have been the best choice. She certainly fits the part as it was described by Lloyd friends, what a pity she didn’t get the part. If she had or Uma Thurmond had than the film would be very good/great like it should have. The only other option and the one that really intrigues me if they had flopped the parts; in this scenario Lloyd is the valedictorian who has the fellowship to England & Diane Court is an ordinary student who he falls for. This would have worked because you could have her dad not wanting her to fall for a man who isn’t going to be in the country too much longer. You could keep the subplot about the IRS because Jim Court still would have had the same motivation. What’s good about this scenario is Iona Skye could still be Diane Court. The way she plays Diane Court is as a pretty (through not game show hostess pretty) young lady who is earnest, likeable, and has a good heart which totally fits this scenario, not the one that was filmed. Sadly you can’t do this so what you have is a movie that aspires for greatness and could have achieved it if the part of Diane Court had been played by someone else or if the parts had been flopped like I mentioned. Let this be a lesson to anyone making a movie-just like how a good cast/cast member can elevate poor/so-so material, a bad cast/cast member can damage good/great material.