If you have ever seen another movie with a love-struck guy holding a boombox above his head, playing a tune to woo a woman, then you have either seen Say Anything . . . (1989), or witnessed an homage to the 1980s classic.  Oddly enough, before watching it just now, I had never viewed it.  I knew of the famous scene, of course, but could not say I was aware of the emotional context.  What seems clear to me now is that it is perhaps the most romantic film I have ever seen.  As a self-proclaimed critic, I try to shy away from superlatives.  And because I see so many movies, it would not be a surprise if one day another surpasses it.  Finally, as a practicing Catholic, I do not love the openness about premarital sex. Nonetheless, I will take this one over most any other romantic comedy.

I almost hesitated to call Say Anything . . . a romantic comedy because it does not have many of those familiar beats.  In any case, it is graduation day for the students of Lakewood High School in the Seattle area.  Before the ceremony, Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) is chatting with his friends, Corey Flood (Lili Taylor) and Rebecca (Pamela Adlon).  Lloyd is nobody special, a fact his friends point out to him, but he is universally known as a great guy despite his lack of ambitions.  The others remind him of his averageness because he is gushing to them about Diane Court (Ione Skye).  She is the class valedictorian, and she apparently has a bright future ahead of her.  Lloyd is determined to ask her out, but all his friends see from doing so is rejection.  Following the ceremony, Lloyd calls her house and gets her doting father, Jim Court (John Mahoney).  Lloyd is polite but forward about his intentions, and Jim writes down the young man’s number for Diane.  Once she returns from working at Jim’s retirement home, she rings Lloyd and because he manages to make her laugh, she agrees to go to a party with him.  The soiree is one of those typical Hollywood high school gatherings with a lot of inappropriate behavior, but a few things stand out from Lloyd’s comportment.  First, he accepts the boring responsibility of being the “key master,” the one who collects the car keys of all the attendees who plan on drinking.  This means they are largely separated during the proceedings, but another point in his favor is him checking on her periodically as she socializes with people with whom she seldom talked to while in school.  Next, he offers to drive someone home who is too inebriated to operate a vehicle, patiently bearing with the drunk person who is having difficulty remembering where he lives.  Finally, Lloyd moves some broken glass out of Diane’s path as he walks her to her door the following morning.  In other words, despite the absurdly late hour of their return, he behaves as a Christian gentleman should.  Because of his stellar comportment, he earns himself a second date.  This one is a bit different, being a meal with Jim and some of his friends.  Understandably nervous, Lloyd’s lack of a concrete plan for his future beyond enjoying kickboxing contrasts unfavorably with the high-level academic path before Diane.  Naturally, Jim is not thrilled with his daughter’s choice of guys, but Diane had so little fun while pursuing stellar grades that he tolerates it for now.  Father and daughter do discuss the situation, though, and she tries to tell Lloyd that she intends to remain friends, or “friends with potential” as she puts it.  This commitment does not last long, particularly as he lets go of his fear of retirement homes and shows a willingness to visit her there while she works.  He also shows her how to drive the car her dad gifted her as a present for her matriculation.  In other words, Diane and Lloyd spend so much time together that they begin to fall in love.  If there is one thing that makes this film like its romantic comedy cousins, it is that not all is as rosy as it seems.  Adding stress for Diane and Jim is the fact that he is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for irregularities with his accounting and income from the retirement home.  Diane tries to get her mother, who Jim had divorced five years previously, to testify favorably for her ex-husband.  Because of Jim’s troubles, Diane begins feeling bad for being around Lloyd so often, particularly when she had chosen dad over mom in the divorce.  There is also her future to consider.  Because he still does not have a clear idea of what he is going to do, Jim urges Diane to break up with Lloyd.  Eventually she does so, though it is not easy for either of them.  He tries hanging out with the guys, but they all have terrible advice when it comes to women.  This is when we get the famous boombox scene, with him blaring out the song to which they had sex for the first time.  What gets her to finally end her silence is Jim’s legal situation.  Trying to clear her father’s name, Diane goes to the IRS to get to the bottom of the situation.  They tell her they have proof of widespread fraud done by Jim.  Going home, she finds a box full of cash that collaborates the IRS’ claim.  When she confronts her dad, he tries to say the money he had been stealing from his clients is simply what he is owed.  Sadly, the IRS sees it differently and he is forced to go to jail.  It is at this point that she goes back to Lloyd, apologizing, telling him she loves him, and that she needs him.  He accepts her back, and with a last visit to Jim in prison, they depart for England and her fellowship.

The last scene in Say Anything . . . shows Diane and Lloyd in their seats on the plane headed to England.  He is comforting her, saying that the first five minutes of the takeoff are the roughest part.  However, once the smoking light dings, everything will be okay.  That sound occurs and the end credits roll.  As I mentioned in the introduction, I am not keen on some of the behavior in which these two engage, primarily the premarital sex.  It is also not a great look on Jim’s part, fraud aside, that there is a lack of guidance from him when she admits to sleeping with Lloyd.  Nonetheless, as I also previously asserted, I was pleased by the Christian gentlemanliness he exhibited.  There is an interesting moment in this regard that piqued my Catholic interest.  Essentially, Jim gives Lloyd “the talk,” asking what they young man’s intentions are towards his daughter.  Lloyd basically says that his intention is to be with her.  Jim clearly expects him to talk about what job Lloyd will get, and how this will help provide for a family.  Those are certainly basic, functional aspirations to which anyone hoping to get married should want to fulfill.  What is important from a Catholic point of view is the commitment.  To pursue a vocation like marriage, or any vocation for that matter from being a priest to a cloistered nun, it takes commitment.  Catholicism places extra importance on these promises, asking that people entering into them take vows and calling them a Sacrament.  Each of them takes sacrifice, and the root word for “sacrifice” and “Sacrament” are the same.  They share the Latin word “sacrum” which means sacred.  Husbands and wives have sacred duties to one another.  Further, among the vows they take, one of them is to love and cherish one another.  In this respect, particularly from Lloyd’s side of the equation, it is evident that he loves and cherishes Diane.  We may not see them have a sacramental wedding, but we do hear bells at the end.

Speaking of endings, I thought the classic moment in Say Anything . . . would have come at the close, but it is about three-quarters of the way through the movie.  If you do not approve of what I have to say about it, at least watch the movie so that you know the source of the moment.  Either way, I do not think you can go wrong in seeing it, other than the questionable behavior.