Rent Say Anything (1989)

Boom Boxes, Boundaries, and the Myth of Lloyd Dobler - Say Anything review by griggs

Teenage me would’ve put Lloyd Dobler on a poster; middle-aged me wants him to try therapy, do his laundry, and grow some boundaries. For a film so enshrined in teen-movie lore, Say Anything… is surprisingly small-scale — no wink, no safety net, just a teenager with a trench coat, a boombox, and more confidence in grand gestures than in basic life skills.

Lloyd’s an affable underachiever who falls for star pupil Diane Court, bright, sheltered, and stuck with a dad whose love language is control. The film clearly adores Lloyd’s boundary-blind persistence, and it only half-questions the father’s behaviour, never quite willing to puncture the fairy tale.

What keeps it watchable is the cast. John Cusack sells the trench coat, kickboxing philosophy and rambling speeches, while Ione Skye gives Diane a cautious warmth that softens the script’s more heroic tendencies. In the end, it’s good company rather than a life-changer: a mixtape romance I’m happy to rewind to, not one I built my personality around.