Say Anything
| Year: | 1989 |
| Director: | Cameron Crowe |
| Writer: | Cameron Crowe |
| Cast: | John Cusack, Ione Skye, Eric Stoltz, Chynna Phillips, Joan Cusack, John Mahoney |
John Cusack started his career as a teen movie stalwart like Jason Biggs, Freddie Prinze Jr et al are now.
This was his first foray into a more serious drama and a glimpse of the major talent that would develop to suit material like Being John Malkovich (as well as fairy floss like America's Sweethearts and Con Air).
Kickboxing enthusiast Lloyd (Cusack) is madly in love with class princess Diane (Skye), and he wins her at the end of school. What follows is part teen-party comedy like the Sure Things and Better Off Deads he'd just come from and part teen drama. They both deal with their feelings for each other, home lives (including her fathers indictment for fraud), and the looming threat of college and life beyond.
Not far enough away from Cusack's roots to be hard hitting, but a first look at an actor that could take a role seriously. The mood also comes into focus when you realise who the director was - it's easy to envisage a power play between the studio who wanted another trademark Cusack comedy and the dramatic eye that would go on to Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky.
This was his first foray into a more serious drama and a glimpse of the major talent that would develop to suit material like Being John Malkovich (as well as fairy floss like America's Sweethearts and Con Air).
Kickboxing enthusiast Lloyd (Cusack) is madly in love with class princess Diane (Skye), and he wins her at the end of school. What follows is part teen-party comedy like the Sure Things and Better Off Deads he'd just come from and part teen drama. They both deal with their feelings for each other, home lives (including her fathers indictment for fraud), and the looming threat of college and life beyond.
Not far enough away from Cusack's roots to be hard hitting, but a first look at an actor that could take a role seriously. The mood also comes into focus when you realise who the director was - it's easy to envisage a power play between the studio who wanted another trademark Cusack comedy and the dramatic eye that would go on to Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky.