Say Anything

Written and directed by Cameron Crowe, who also penned and directed "Jerry Maguire" and "Almost Famous", Say Anything became a bit of a well deserved cult romantic 80's hit, particularly after it's release into the video market.

This was Crowe's directorial debut, having famously gone undercover at a real high school to research and write "Fast times at Ridgemont High".

Essentially a 3-way 'character movie' about a sensitive, funny "new man" kinda guy played by John Cusack ("Grosse Point Blank") and his relationship with the beautiful, intelligent but (at first) unattainable character played by Ione Skye and the relationships they both have with her father, played by "Frasier's Dad" John Mahoney.

The characters and their motives are very well developed and completely believable. Their relationship is very sincerely portrayed and I think would strike a chord with anyone of a similar age at the time.

Rounding off and as some have said, 'saying goodbye to' the 80's in 1989, the movie still plays well to this day. All the actors do a good job of passionately playing their parts. Director Crowe, who also wrote the script, is known for his excellent, critic pleasing character script work, even when the subject or story might seem a little thin and this is no exception.

Eric Stoltz makes a brief but memorable appearance (in disguise) as a party host, Crowe having apparantly, at the time, promised him a role in every movie that he made.

The film manages to be romantic without being too slushy and genuinely funny at the same time. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times said: "Say Anything is one of those rare movies that has something to teach us about life. It doesn't have a 'lesson' or a 'message,' but it observes its moral choices so carefully that it helps us see our own. That such intelligence could be contained in a movie that is simultaneously so funny and so entertaining is some kind of a miracle. "