MovieChat Forums > Say Anything... (1989) Discussion > I grew up in the 80s and I've NEVER seen...

I grew up in the 80s and I've NEVER seen this movie. Is it any good?


No I wasn't born in the early 80s. I'm a guy that's 38 and I was born in 1975. In 1989 I remember being so excited for movies that year. Batman, Karate Kid Part III, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Ghostbuster 2, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, License to Kill, Back to the Future Part II, Christmas Vacation, The Wizard, there were many movies that year I really anticipated. My friends and I spent hours on our Nintendo, Sega and even that ditzy early Gameboy system.

Say Anything..., was not one of the movies I looked forwad to or even remember hearing about. I don't even remember any of my friends talking about this flick. Now granted I was a young kid, but not a little kid, I was in 8th grade and 13 through most of the year, turned 14 in December. I started high school in the fall of 1989 and I don't even remember *anyone* ahead of me talking about this movie. Not. One. Single. Person. What happened? Why did I miss this supposedly great teen movie?

Flash forward to the 2000s when 80s nostalgia is rampant, suddenly this film is on the top of everyone's lists as some sort of life altering game changer. Huh? Why didn't this pop up on my radar? I remember Weird Science, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Lost Boys, License to Drive, but Say Anything...,just wasn't one of them. I even remember "adult romantic comedies" like When Harry Met Sally, but again not Say Anything...

Is there anyone else close to my age that never saw this movie? I've spent years avoiding this supposedly great film from the last year of the 80s b/c I've always felt like some super weirdo for being old enough and being in the right demographic to know about Say Anything...but never watching it or never EVEN HEARING ABOUT IT till the early 2000s when 80s nostalgia documentaries would air on VH1 or something.

OK I finally picked this up on Blu-ray and I'm going to finally get around watching this long admired film that slipped past my radar in a popcorn movie obsessed year of 1989. Just by the clips I've seen over the years and the cover art, there was no way in hell this film could have competed with any of the other flicks I mentioned for the person I was at that time. Go to the arcades and play the Ninja Turtle game or watch a movie about people in college in a sappy chick flick? And yes I did venture out of my usual circle of friends occasionaly back then too, in the fall of 1989 and the spring of 1990 I took some classes with people older then me and did a summer camp in both 1989 and 1990 with people even 4 or 5 years older then me. NOBODY back then talked about this film. Not even the girls. It almost feels like around the early 2000s everybody decided to retcon what they watched and voted Say Anything... as THE movie that changed their lives in 1989.

Plus look at how dead this message board is. If this was truly a beloved 80s movie, it would be as jumping as Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, or Karate Kid. So if you're currently a kid of the 2010s reading this, just remember this movie is way overhyped, not everyone watched this or even heard about this little chick flick.

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I can't comment on how well the movie was advertised because I was born two years after the movie came out but I stumbled upon it in middle school and recently rewatched it. The boards aren't as active because it's old, new movies and shows will always have more active boards.

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I know this thread is a bit old, but I'll reply anyway. You never know.

I was someone who saw this in theatres during its original run, and there was virtually no one else in the theatre. Perhaps I was the only one there, or close to it.

I'm not sure if it just wasn't advertised or marketed well, but I think it was only starting to gather an audience when it went to video. Even then, there were lots of people who had never heard of it, much less saw it, so it doesn't surprise me at all to stumble across it now and wonder, 'Where did this thing come from and how come I haven't heard of it?'.

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Totally there with you dude, even today I have no idea wtf is this about, yet it's crammed down my throat as some sort of classic for kids of the 80s.
That scene with the radio above his head, who doesn't know that cult moment in 80s culture?
Me, that's who.

I hate this retro crapping attitude, where some idiot in his 20s pretends to know what he's talkin about defining the 70s about dance n drugs and the 80s about dressing as Sonny Crockett.

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tried watching this couple years ago , cant remeber it , must try again

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I'm not a fan of "Say Anything," although I don't hate it. The situations and relationships smack of real life and you can tell that writer/director Cameron Crowe and the cast put time & effort into creating this "reality." For instance, two of Lloyd's best friends are girls, Corey and D.C., who try to advise him on his new relationship. Another example is Diane’s honest relationship with her dad. The first half is filled with quality scenes, like Corey playing her guitar at a party, still venting emotions regarding a past flame. Plus unlike, say, "Porky's" and "American Pie" there's thankfully no juvenile raunch. In other words, "Say Anything" is a classy teen-college flick.

Yet I’m not a big fan of John Cusack and the weight of the movie falls on him. Furthermore Crowe apparently doesn’t know how to lens beautiful women, like Skye (and I’m not talking ‘bout nudity or sleaze). Meanwhile the second half isn't as entertaining as the first because it leaves the high school graduation antics behind to focus on Diane and Lloyd's increasingly intimate relationship, as well as unexpected revelations about Diane's father. Those who like stories about romantic relationships will no doubt appreciate the second half more than me. But I didn't buy Diane's love for Lloyd because she vocally wanted to break up with him before and after they had sex.

It’s decent and I respect it, but IMHO Crowe did far superior work with "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (1982) and “Jerry Maguire” (1996). It doesn't deserve the gushing, revisionist praise.

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I never liked it much. I recognize that it's more intelligent and has more depth than the average teen movie, but no spoilers, I didn't like the ending.

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