View source for Say Anything...

{{Short description|1989 film by Cameron Crowe}}
{{Other uses|Say Anything (disambiguation)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{use mdy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Say Anything...
| image          = Say_Anything.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Cameron Crowe]]
| writer         = Cameron Crowe
| producer       = [[Polly Platt]]
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[John Cusack]]
* [[Ione Skye]]
* [[John Mahoney]]
}}
| cinematography = [[László Kovács (cinematographer)|László Kovács]]
| editing        = [[Richard Marks]]
| music          = {{Plainlist|
* [[Richard Gibbs]]
* [[Anne Dudley]]
}}
| studio         = [[Gracie Films]]
| distributor    = [[20th Century Fox]]
| released       = {{Film date|1989|04|14}}
| runtime        = 100 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $16 million<ref>{{cite web|url=http://powergrid.thewrap.com/project/piano |title=Box Office Information for ''Say Anything..'' |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211233700/http://powergrid.thewrap.com/project/piano|archive-date=11 December 2013 |website=[[TheWrap]] |access-date=April 4, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
| gross          = $21.5 million<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0098258/ |title=Say Anything... (1989) |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=September 12, 2025}}</ref>
}}
'''''Say Anything...''''' is a 1989 American [[Teen film|teen]] [[Romance film|romantic]] [[comedy-drama]] film written and directed by [[Cameron Crowe]] in his feature directorial debut. 

The film follows the romance between Lloyd Dobler ([[John Cusack]]), an average student, and Diane Court ([[Ione Skye]]), the class [[valedictorian]], immediately after their graduation from high school.

''Say Anything...'' was released theatrically in the United States on April 14, 1989, by [[20th Century Fox]]. The film received highly positive reviews from critics. In 2002, ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' named ''Say Anything...'' the best modern romance film, and in 2012, ranked it number 11 on its list of the "50 Best High School Movies".<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Karger|first=Dave|author-link=Dave Karger|url=https://ew.com/article/2002/02/08/love-notes-say-anything-and-more-modern-movie-romances/|title=Love Notes: 'Say Anything' And More Modern Movie Romances|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|date=February 8, 2002|access-date=September 12, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/best-high-school-movies-of-all-time-11791439|title=50 Best High School Movies|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|date=August 18, 2025|orig-date=September 22, 2012<!-- https://web.archive.org/web/20150702020109/http://www.ew.com/gallery/50-best-high-school-movies-0 -->|access-date=September 12, 2025}}</ref>

==Plot==
[[File:Sharp GF-7600 Boombox Front View Angled.jpg|thumb|The Toshiba RT-SX1 boombox that Cusack held above his head]]
<!-- Per WP:FILMPLOT, plot summary should be between 400 to 700 words. -->
At the end of their senior year of high school, noble [[underachiever]] Lloyd Dobler becomes smitten with [[valedictorian]] Diane Court and plans to ask her out, though they belong to different social groups.

Lloyd's parents are stationed in Germany in the [[U.S. Army]], so he lives with his sister Constance, a single mother, and has no plans yet for his future. Diane comes from a sheltered academic upbringing, living with her doting divorced father Jim, who owns the retirement home where she works. She will take up a prestigious fellowship in England at the end of the summer.

Lloyd offers to take Diane to their graduation party. She agrees, to everyone's surprise. Their next "date" is a dinner at Diane's, where Lloyd fails to impress Jim, and [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]] agents arrive unexpectedly to inform the latter he is under scrutiny for [[tax fraud]].

Diane introduces Lloyd to the retirement home residents and he teaches her to drive her [[manual transmission]] [[Ford Tempo]] graduation gift. They grow closer and have sex, to her father's concern. Lloyd's musician best friend Corey, who has never overcome her unfaithful ex-boyfriend Joe, warns him to take care of Diane.

Jim urges Diane to break up with Lloyd, feeling he is not an appropriate match, and suggests she give him a pen as a parting gift. Worried about her father, Diane tells Lloyd she wants to stop seeing him and concentrate on her studies, giving him the pen. Devastated, he seeks advice from Corey, who tells him to "be a man" because it takes more to be a "man" rather than just being a "guy". Meanwhile, Jim discovers his credit cards are declined as the investigation continues.

On a [[boombox]] at dawn, Lloyd stands under Diane's open bedroom window and plays "[[In Your Eyes (Peter Gabriel song)|In Your Eyes]]" by [[Peter Gabriel]], which played when they had sex. The next day, she meets with an IRS investigator, who says they have evidence incriminating Jim with [[embezzlement|embezzling]] funds from his retirement home residents. He suggests she accept the fellowship as matters with her father will worsen.

Diane finds the cash concealed at home and confronts Jim, who tells her he took it to give her financial independence. Jim feels justified in doing so as he provided better care of his residents than their families. Distraught, she reconciles with Lloyd at his [[kickboxing]] gym.

At the end of the summer, Jim is incarcerated on a nine-month sentence after accepting a plea deal. Lloyd visits him at the prison, saying he is accompanying Diane to England. Jim reacts angrily when Lloyd gives him a letter from Diane, but she arrives to say goodbye and they embrace. Diane gives Jim the pen she had given Lloyd, asking him to write to her in England. Lloyd supports and comforts Diane, who is [[fear of flying|afraid of flying]], on their flight.

==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
* [[John Cusack]] as Lloyd Dobler
* [[Ione Skye]] as Diane Court
* [[John Mahoney]] as Jim Court
* [[Lili Taylor]] as Corey Flood
* Amy Brooks as D.C.
* [[Pamela Adlon|Pamela Segall]] as Rebecca
* [[Jason Gould]] as Mike Cameron
* [[Loren Dean]] as Joe
* Glenn Walker Harris Jr. as Jason Dobler
* [[Polly Platt]] as Mrs. Flood
* [[Jeremy Piven]] as Mark
* [[Bebe Neuwirth]] as Mrs. Evans
* [[Eric Stoltz]] as Vahlere
* [[Kim Walker (actress)|Kim Walker]] as Sheila
* [[Chynna Phillips]] as Mimi
* [[Joanna Frank]] as Mrs. Kerwin
* [[Richard Portnow]] as IRS Agent Stewart
* [[Philip Baker Hall]] as IRS Boss
* [[Don Wilson (kickboxer)|Don "The Dragon" Wilson]] as Sparring Partner
* [[Joan Cusack]] as Constance Dobler (uncredited)
* [[Dan Castellaneta]] as Diane's Teacher (uncredited)
* [[Lois Chiles]] as Diane's Mother (uncredited)
}}

==Production==
[[Jennifer Connelly]] and Ione Skye vied for the role of Diane Court, but Skye was cast. [[Robert Downey Jr.]] was offered the role of Lloyd Dobler, but turned it down.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.howardstern.com/show/2016/05/04/robert-downey-jr-previously-howard-stern-show/ |title=Robert Downey Jr.…Previously on The Howard Stern Show |date=May 4, 2016 |website=[[The Howard Stern Show]]}}</ref> [[Christian Slater]] and [[Kirk Cameron]] were also considered for the role.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2012/04/5-things-you-might-not-know-about-say-anything-252505/ |title=Five Things You Might Not Know About 'Say Anything . .' |date=April 13, 2012 |last=Lyttelton |first=Oliver |website=[[IndieWire]]}}</ref> [[Dick Van Dyke]] and [[Richard Dreyfuss]] were considered for the role of Jim Court.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vulture.com/2019/05/say-anything-cast-reunites-at-tribeca-film-festival.html|title=We've Been Mispronouncing Lloyd Dobler's Name from Say Anything This Whole Time|date=May 1, 2019|last=Reilly|first=Dan|website=[[Vulture (website)|Vulture]]}}</ref>

Cusack initially refused to film the boombox scene as he felt that Dobler wouldn't do something like that, he wanted to do it while sitting in the car with it on top of hood, Crowe agreed for him to do it but he was tricked into thinking to film it without realizing the camera had no film in it, he eventually agreed to do it on how Crowe wanted it.<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/magazine/cameron-crowe-interview.html</ref>

==Soundtrack==
[[The Smithereens]] originally wrote "[[A Girl Like You (The Smithereens song)|A Girl Like You]]" for the film, but the film's producers ultimately cut the song believing it revealed too much of the plot, and used "[[In Your Eyes (Peter Gabriel song)|In Your Eyes]]" by [[Peter Gabriel]] in its place; "A Girl Like You" was released later that year on their album ''[[11 (The Smithereens album)|11]]'' and became a top 40 entry in the US.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Freeman |first=Paul |date=1990-09-20 |title=Smash For Smithereens |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1990/09/20/smash-for-smithereens/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701040936/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-09-20/features/9003180919_1_smithereens-pat-dinizio-album |archive-date=2016-07-01 |access-date=2023-11-07 |newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Robinson |first=Joanna |date=2015-05-28 |title=Cameron Crowe Takes Us on a Musical Tour Through His Filmography |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/05/cameron-crowe-music-interview |access-date=2023-11-07 |magazine=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]}}</ref> [[AllMusic]] wrote that the soundtrack, like the film, is "much smarter than the standard teen fare of the era."<ref>{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r84115|label=Say Anything ... (soundtrack)}}</ref> The soundtrack consists of these songs:

{{Track listing
| extra_column = Artist
| title1 = All for Love
| extra1 = [[Nancy Wilson (rock musician)|Nancy Wilson]]
| length1 = 4:37
| title2 = [[Cult of Personality (song)|Cult of Personality]]
| extra2 = [[Living Colour]]
| length2 = 5:07
| title3 = [[Flying in a Blue Dream|One Big Rush]]
| extra3 = [[Joe Satriani]]
| length3 = 3:25
| title4 = You Want It
| extra4 = [[Cheap Trick]]
| length4 = 3:43
| title5 = [[Taste the Pain]]
| extra5 = [[Red Hot Chili Peppers]]
| length5 = 5:04
| title6 = [[In Your Eyes (Peter Gabriel song)|In Your Eyes]]
| extra6 = [[Peter Gabriel]]
| length6 = 5:23
| title7 = [[Stripped (song)|Stripped]]
| extra7 = [[Depeche Mode]]
| length7 = 6:41
| title8 = Skankin' to the Beat
| extra8 = [[Fishbone]]
| length8 = 2:49
| title9 = [[Within Your Reach]]
| extra9 = [[The Replacements (band)|The Replacements]]
| length9 = 4:26
| title10 = [[Keeping the Dream Alive]]
| extra10 = [[Münchener Freiheit (band)|Freiheit]]
| length10 = 4:14
| title11 = Lloyd Dobler Rap
| extra11 = [[John Cusack]]
| length11 = 0:33
| total_length = 45:29
}}

==Critical reception==
''Say Anything...'' was well reviewed. On the [[review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds an approval rating of 98% based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "One of the definitive [[Generation X]] movies, ''Say Anything'' is equally funny and heartfelt—and it established John Cusack as an icon for left-of-center types everywhere."<ref>{{cite web |title=Say Anything... |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/say_anything/ |access-date=October 16, 2023 |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], which assigns a [[weighted average]] score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 86 based on 19 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".<ref>{{cite web |title=Say Anything... |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/say-anything |access-date=October 16, 2023 |website=[[Metacritic]]}}</ref> Audiences surveyed by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film a grade B+ on scale of A to F.<ref>{{cite web |title=Say Anything (1989) B+ |url=https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181220122629/https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |archive-date=20 December 2018 |work=CinemaScore}}</ref>

Giving the film four stars out of four, ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' film critic [[Roger Ebert]] called ''Say Anything...'' "one of the best films of the year—a film that is really about something, that cares deeply about the issues it contains—and yet it also works wonderfully as a funny, warmhearted romantic comedy."<ref>{{cite news|last=Ebert|first=Roger|author-link=Roger Ebert|title=Say Anything|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/say-anything-1989|newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]|date=April 14, 1989|access-date=January 13, 2017|via=[[RogerEbert.com]]}}</ref> He later included it in his 2002 Great Movie list, writing, "''Say Anything'' exists entirely in a real world, is not a fantasy or a pious parable, has characters who we sort of recognize, and is directed with care for the human feelings involved."<ref>{{cite news|last=Ebert|first=Roger|author-link=Roger Ebert|title=Great Movie: Say Anything|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-say-anything-1989|newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]|date=February 17, 2002|access-date=January 13, 2017|via=[[RogerEbert.com]]}}</ref>

[[Pauline Kael]] in ''[[The New Yorker]]'' was similarly enthusiastic, writing, "It's a slight movie, but that's not a put-down. Its slightness has to do with the writer-director Cameron Crowe's specialty: he's wired into teen-age flakes and the sloppy, exuberant confusion of high-school dating. Crowe is great here on oddity and fringe moments; the comedy helps to dry out the romanticism -- to give it lightness and a trace of enchantment."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Kael |first= Pauline|author-link=Pauline Kael|date= May 15, 1989|title=The Current Cinema: Young Stuff |url=https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1989-05-15/flipbook/120/ |magazine= [[The New Yorker]]|access-date=August 21, 2024}}</ref>

In a less positive review, ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' called it a "half-baked love story, full of good intentions but uneven in the telling." But, the review also said the film's "[a]ppealing tale of an undirected army brat proving himself worthy of the most exceptional girl in high school elicits a few laughs, plenty of smiles and some genuine feeling."<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Say Anything...|url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117794651|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=December 31, 1988|access-date=January 13, 2021}}</ref> In a mixed review, [[Caryn James]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote:
<blockquote>[The film] resembles a first-rate production of a children's story. Its sense of parents and the summer after high school is myopic, presented totally from the teenagers' point of view. Yet its melodrama—Will Dad go to prison? Will Diane go to England?—distorts that perspective, so the film doesn't have much to offer an actual adult, not even a sense of what it's truly like to be just out of high school these days. The film is all charming performances and grace notes, but there are plenty of worse things to be.<ref>{{cite news|first=Caryn|last=James|author-link=Caryn James|title=Mismatched Teen-Agers Fall in Love, Of Course|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/14/movies/review-film-mismatched-teen-agers-fall-in-love-of-course.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=April 14, 1989|access-date=January 13, 2017|archive-date=January 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116182132/http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=950DE0DB1231F937A25757C0A96F948260|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>

==Cultural influence==
The film features one of the most enduring scenes in romance films, in which John Cusack holds a [[boombox]] above his head outside Diane's bedroom window to let her know that he has not given up on her. Crowe and producer [[James L. Brooks]] believed the scene could become a hallmark of the movie, though Crowe found it difficult to film because Cusack felt it was "too passive". The scene was first scored with [[Fishbone]]'s "Question of Life", but after viewing the scene, Crowe opted to replace it with Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" to better fit the mood that he wished to convey. Gabriel initially turned down Crowe because he confused the film with another film in production at the time, a [[John Belushi]] biography titled ''[[Wired (film)|Wired]]''.<ref>{{AFI film|58268}}</ref> "That scene is like Romeo under the trellis," said Crowe reminiscing about the iconic scene. "But I have this feeling when I watch it that it's filled with double emotion – both with the story and the actors, whose own trepidation bleeds in."<ref>{{cite news |last=Alexander |first=Bryan |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2019/04/14/say-anything-anniversary-boombox-scene-immortal/3454645002/ |title='Say Anything' at 30: John Cusack's real concerns about boom box serenade ensured immortality |newspaper=[[USA Today]] |date=April 14, 2019}}</ref>

In a September 2012 interview with ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', discussing the 25th anniversary of ''[[So (album)|So]]'' (from which "In Your Eyes" hails), Gabriel commented on the cultural impact of the scene, "It definitely gave [the song] a second life, because now it's so often parodied in comedy shows and it is one of the modern day ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'' balcony clichés. I've talked to [[John Cusack]] about that. We're sort of trapped together in a minuscule moment of contemporary culture."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/q-a-peter-gabriel-reflects-on-his-1986-landmark-album-so-20120904 |title=Q&A: Peter Gabriel Reflects On His Landmark 1986 Album ''So'' |date=2012-09-04 |last=Greene |first=Andy |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120909224036/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/q-a-peter-gabriel-reflects-on-his-1986-landmark-album-so-20120904 |archive-date=9 September 2012 |url-status=live |access-date=4 September 2012}}</ref> In October 2012, as Gabriel played the first few bars of the song during a performance at the [[Hollywood Bowl]], Cusack walked onto the stage, handed him a [[boombox]] and took a bow, before quickly walking off again. [[Cameron Crowe]] was also present at the concert and later [[Twitter|tweeted]] "Peter Gabriel and John Cusack on stage together at the Hollywood Bowl tonight. Won't forget that... ever."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gawker.com/5949918/peter-gabriels-performance-of-in-your-eyes-interrupted-by-john-cusack-holding-a-boombox |website=[[Gawker]] |title=Peter Gabriel's Performance of In Your Eyes Interrupted By John Cusack Holding A Boombox |last=Zimmerman |first=Neetzan|date=October 8, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130218212029/http://gawker.com/5949918/peter-gabriels-performance-of-in-your-eyes-interrupted-by-john-cusack-holding-a-boombox |archive-date=18 February 2013 |access-date=8 October 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> At a concert in [[Madison Square Garden]] on September 18, 2023 (touring his album ''[[I/O (Peter Gabriel album)|I/O]])'', Gabriel held up an inflatable toy boombox during a performance of "In Your Eyes," reported as "a nod to Lloyd Dobler."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/peter-gabriel-brought-the-moon-to-madison-square-garden-pics-setlist-video/|title=Peter Gabriel brought the moon to Madison Square Garden|date=2023-09-19|website=[[BrooklynVegan]]|access-date=2023-09-20}}</ref>

==Canceled TV series==
A television series based on the film was planned by [[NBC]] and [[20th Century Fox]], but producers Aaron Kaplan and Justin Adler did not know that Crowe had not approved of the project. When they found out his views, the show was dropped.<ref>{{cite news|title=Celebrity Extra (October 23, 2014)|last=Elavsky|first=Cindy|newspaper=Florida Weekly|date=October 23, 2014|url=https://naples.floridaweekly.com/articles/celebrity-extra-38/|access-date=October 23, 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024230911/http://naples.floridaweekly.com/news/2014-10-23/Arts_%28and%29_Entertainment_News/CELEBRITY_EXTRA.html|archive-date=October 24, 2014}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb title}}
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20190514132458/https://www.allmovie.com/movie/say-anything-v43033 Say Anything...]'' at [[AllMovie]]
* {{AFI film}}
* {{TCMDb title}}
* [https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-say-anything25-2009oct25,0,1435053.story {{"'}}Say Anything...' says so much"], ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', October 25, 2009.

{{Cameron Crowe}}
{{Gracie Films}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Say Anything ...}}
[[Category:1989 comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:1989 directorial debut films]]
[[Category:1989 films]]
[[Category:1989 romantic comedy films]]
[[Category:1989 romantic drama films]]
[[Category:1980s American films]]
[[Category:1980s coming-of-age comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:1980s English-language films]]
[[Category:1980s romantic comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:1980s teen comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:1980s teen romance films]]
[[Category:20th Century Fox films]]
[[Category:American coming-of-age comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:American romantic comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:American teen comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:American teen romance films]]
[[Category:Coming-of-age romance films]]
[[Category:English-language romantic comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:Films about father–daughter relationships]]
[[Category:Films directed by Cameron Crowe]]
[[Category:Films scored by Anne Dudley]]
[[Category:Films scored by Richard Gibbs]]
[[Category:Films set in Seattle]]
[[Category:Films shot in Seattle]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Cameron Crowe]]
[[Category:Gracie Films films]]