MovieChat Forums > Say Anything... (1989) Discussion > Very Disappointing.

Very Disappointing.

posted 17 years ago by dogma66605
75 replies | jump to latest

I was horribly disappointed by this movie. It just seemed like nothing was happening for a reason. Nothing blended. Nothing meshed.

There's this boy. He wants to go out with this girl he doesn't know and seems to already be hopelessly in love with. He takes her out to a party. He is unrealistically only friends with these two girls who he has nothing in common with. One of them had sex with a guy and writes songs about it and then confronts him but what happened is never explained and the whole scene is unnecessary. But that doesn't matter because they never touch on it again. Then Lloyd and Diane go on about two more dates. Then fall madly in love for some reason and have sex. She tells her dad and he doesn't care. She walks into her house at 8 in the morning and he doesn't care. She's super smart and "ONLY HAS 16 weeks before she leaves" to go to England for her scholarship. Why is she so hesitant to start hanging out with a guy she just met? Does she really think from that point that seeing him will make her have to commit for more than four months? 16 months is a long time. They fall in love way too fast and I don't buy it at all. And it's supposed to be some destined undying love. But it's just a snoozefest. Scene after scene of meaningless irrelevance. How dare Roger Ebert say in his review that they must've studied teenagers when writing this film. The two main teenagers seem to know a whole lot more about love than the average kid and the other secondary teenagers are mindless stereotypes. The party scene was embarrassing. I'm sorry about that mindless rant, but that movie just seemed equally mindless. It had no aim. No direction. I'm not saying it was badly written... just badly put together.

The response to this movie confuses me so much. It's a love story with no reason behind the love and no depth behind the story. It's just an unrealistic look into the love lives of some really unrealistic kids. I love movies that capture the audience, make them live through the characters. I couldn't relate to anything in this movie and I couldn't understand while watching it HOW I was supposed to feel what any of the characters were feeling when no reason was ever given to show WHY they felt that way. Isn't this movie considered "overlooked" or something? I can see why a lot of people overlooked it.

Never has a movie was such brilliant reviews disappointed me so much. What a godawful pretentious mess.

[–] crescentcomics1 17 years ago

You're an ass. This movie rules. Normally, I hate these corny-ass love stories, but this one worked for me. Teenagers have unrealistic views on love and relationships, and this movie reflected that perfectly. You need to look with better eyes pal.

"I don't know, I'm just making this up as I go..."

[–] newdrivers 16 years ago

You're an ass for calling him an ass. It's an opinion, man.

[–] crescentcomics1 16 years ago

Wow. That was mature, articulate and insightful. Way to go.

By the way, in case you didn't notice, my calling him an ass is MY opinion. But I guess my opinion matters less to you than that poster's because it's not in line with yours, hence your coming to his defense. Nice.

Like they say, opinions are like a$$h0les...

"I don't know, I'm just making this up as I go..."

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[–] galt-1 16 years ago

Wow, if you seriously think her father "doesn't care" about her losing her virginity, you need too pay a lot more attention. That pretty much goes for the entire review, actually.

[–] JDarkley 16 years ago

Anybody who thinks that this is an unrealistic portrayal of adolescent relationships never had a relationship as an adolescent. It isn't like every other Hollywood tear-jerking chick flick, that's why it is an amazing movie. It has depth, none of the characters are the one-dimensional arch-types that normally litter the silver screen and neither is the story. The worst part about your review it isn't about the film not fitting your personal taste, it's that your analysis of "Say Anything" is just wrong.

[–] julesbri 16 years ago

I have to agree with the original poster. I think the film is more intelligently written than your average teen film and it's well acted but the movie is totally UNREALISTIC. It's misleading and sappy. Guys like Lloyd Dobler would not get the girl in real life. Maybe if he ignored her and took her for granted. And the boombox scene. Acts of chivalry like this would distance and make girls uncomfortable. I've said this before but watch "The Last American Virgin"if you want a realistic movie about girls and high school relationships.

[–] crescentcomics1 16 years ago

" I've said this before but watch "The Last American Virgin"if you want a realistic movie about girls and high school relationships."

Oooh...OOOOHHHH...MAYN...you just invoked the Last American Virgin. Most. Effed up. Movie. EVER. That was a low blow, dawg.

Watching the end of that flick still hurts like a kick in the nuts...

"I don't know, I'm just making this up as I go..."

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] harvardjanitor7 16 years ago

bastards! who are you guys to say the guy can't get the girl. it could happen. lol...

[–] hammersmithpalais 16 years ago

I was twelve when I first saw this movie with my cousins in 1989. I spent all of my junior high and high school years looking for my Lloyd Dobler. I have yet to find him, and I'm going to be 31 shortly. I would like nothing better than Lloyd for the rest of my life. Particularly if he looked like John Cusack...
The movie is what it is- a movie. I thought the fact Lloyd had a crush on Diane was clear. And the fact that they fall in love for simply no reason? There were reasons. He was kind, considerate, and gentle with her. She was unattainable, but she opened up with him. It's not about sex, all though that also happens. The break up scene I think is perfect- she's emotionally distant because she has developed a wall around her emotions, using logic to form the basis of her relationships ( you can see it in her conversation with her mother earlier in the film). She knows she cares for Lloyd, and that he is the first person in her life she hasn't put through the usual logic machine in her brain, but refuses to let that part of herself go. Lloyd is the one fully invested in their relationship, he's the one who goes all crazy.
Is it the typical teenage relationship? No, but neither is the typical teenager. Their are Lloyd types out there and Diane types out there. The only conceit in this movie is what would happen if a Lloyd and a Diane actually met and started dating- what would that look like? I love how it looked like.

To make a film is to improve on life.- Truffaut

[–] lillyth_1 16 years ago

"Guys like Lloyd Dobler would not get the girl in real life."

You fool. There is an entire generation of women who would take Lloyd any day of the week. There are articles written on it for that matter. Sorry you can't get women but then again, there are very few Lloyd's out there.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] photonerd81 16 years ago

Lloyd Dobler is my hero. I'm a lot like him, and I made it my goal in high school to get girls like her. I went after the smart, pretty ones with insanely complicated life-goals. And I got them.

It happens... To think that it could never is just silly.

[–] mornamsnt 10 years ago

If you made it your goal in high school to get girls like her - then I don't think you're a lot like him at all. He went for the one girl he was into. He didn't go for her because he chose to. He fell in love. And in the movie, he only wanted her. Not others.

[–] hippiehunny90 16 years ago

not true. lloyd offers an almost perfect interpretation of my last two boyfriends, and i identify a lot with diane myself.

Goonies never say die!
8% who still rock

[–] dogma66605 16 years ago

I guess my main issue is that I don't understand WHY he wants her so much. They could've developed that he had had a crush on her for a while, but they never did. He just wanted to call her. He called her. She went out with him. He wouldn't leave her alone. She fell in love too. They broke up. It was just so flat. Well acted by Cusack but the plot was so goddamn flat. I'm IN high school currently. No one acts like the people in this movie. Lloyd Dobler is dreamy and great, but I just didn't get any chemistry between him and Diane simply because the reason behind their love and their love itself actually, were never fully developed. We were told they loved eachother and all that. Usually in love stories that are well written, you see a progression. You kind of see that in Diane as she starts falling for him (barely. she seems to be in love from the first second) but Lloyd was hopelessly in love with her from the start.

And how is this a realistic portrayal of adolescent relationships? I'm pretty sure the whole POINT of the movie was to show an atypical teen relationship, because the stereotype is that teens just want to have sex and don't really know anything about love. Whoever thinks adolescent relationships are like this either had a really good experience in high school or is just lying. Most kids don't go to London together after school. That's not the unrealistic part though. It COULD happen, but it certainly isn't typical like you implied that it was.

I don't think it was realistic in that they didn't show us any depth to the relationship. The script is just like "okay, they're in love. care, please."

ETA: Just watched Pretty in Pink. Despite being a bit rushed, it was leaps and bounds above this one. Well written and an actual storyline/conflict.

[–] mynameiskenny 16 years ago

"because the reason behind their love and their love itself actually, were never fully developed."

Amazing that you bring out Pretty in Pink as a counter-example, seeing as it has one of the all-time no-chemistry romances with Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy.

Your problem appears to be that you seem to need everything spelled out for you, or apparently you believe romance needs a long time to gestate. I think it's pretty damn clear why they fall in love -- because he acts like John Cusack and she looks like Ione Skye. But more seriously, she's never been around a gentleman like Lloyd, and he likes the fact that he got this unattainable beauty to open up.

That it glides the way it does without following standard narrative structure is one of this movie's charms. The changes you propose would wreck its unique qualities. Pardon me, sir, but you seem to be trying to make this film boring.

[–] julesbri 16 years ago

No the film already succeeded on that level. It wasn't entertaining because of how unrealistic it was. I didn't know any teenager like this in high school and I couldn't relate to any of the characters. I think Crowe did a much better job at writing about teenagers in "Fast times at Ridgemont High", at least they were realistic.

[–] galt-1 16 years ago

I personally find it refreshing when a movie doesn't feel the need to spoonfeed every single detail to the audience. It seems pretty clear that he became infatuated when he ate across from her at the mall.

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[–] Howlin Wolf 16 years ago

The response to this movie confuses me so much. It's a love story with no reason behind the love and no depth behind the story. I love movies that capture the audience, make them live through the characters. I couldn't relate to anything in this movie and I couldn't understand while watching it HOW I was supposed to feel what any of the characters were feeling when no reason was ever given to show WHY they felt that way.

... I agree totally. I expected to really like this movie and I found myself surprisingly disappointed by the end of it. I would have thought there would have been more layers to a script that Cameron Crowe turned out...

I never did one thing right in my life, you know that? Not one. That takes skill.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] IsisChromecat 16 years ago

The only thing I found disappointing was Ione Skye, who has...very little acting ability it seems. The writing and characters are good, Cusack was great, and perhaps if Skye had been able to bring a little more to the table it would've been better.

God. The break-up scene kills me. He's so distraught and she's so very fake. I feel like one of the Gas 'n' Sip guys. "She's not worth it, maaaaan."

"Come in," she said,"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

[–] meggslive 16 years ago

I got bored of reading everyone's arguments and callings of asses and so on so I'm just going to state my opinion and say I love John Cusack and I love this movie. A lot.

[–] striker1966 16 years ago

I agree with meggslive... I love this movie and own the DVD so I don't have to wait for it to come on t.v.
As for some of the posters who say this movie "isn't realistic", that's fine if you feel that way... As for me, I am a 41-year old woman who works full-time and has another part-time job on the side... If I want reality, I'll go to work, watch the national news or clean my house... Believe it or not, some of us out here want to escape reality and watch a movie where love is beautiful and the guy gets the girl...
Just my .02...

[–] lakealice 16 years ago

I agree--I thought all the "high school kids" looked way too old. And I know everyone just loves the two leads, but I found them somewhat unattractive--Ione acts with her strange mouth, and Cusack has beady little eyes, and looks like he's wearing too much makeup. [He looks better now that he's older.] I found their looks distracting, and their mutual attraction unconvincing. Just my opinion.