candy-coated

I’ve heard a lot of good feedback about the 1989 film Say Anything, Cameron Crowe’s directorial debut. The sight of Lloyd Dobler’s iconic boom box with Peter Gabriel’s In Your Eyes roaring from the speakers remind me of harana. Apart from The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink, I couldn’t think of any more romcoms about teenagers that made me like the heroine. Let me reflect and pound my memory bank, Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate About You, Julia Stiles in Save The Last Dance. That’s it I reckon, all the others aren’t much into tapping the young ladies full potentials. Lindsay Lohan was bedazzled by the dark side, The Plastics in Mean Girls while Kirsten Dunst was only about cheerleading in Bring It On, but the choreography was astonishing.

In Say Anything, Ione Skye’s character Diane Court is the high school valedictorian who won a major fellowship to study in England, whilst the young man who pursues her affections, Lloyd (John Cusack) is just an ordinary student who’s leaning towards a career in professional kickboxing but not quite. He just doesn’t want to sell anything that’s being processed and process anything that’s being sold. Diane’s father (John Mahoney) who is against the relationship and runs a nursing home, is being investigated by the IRS. The story is heart warming enough for us to feel for Lloyd especially when Diane got confused near the end. How stirring it is to see a handsome lad pine for such a lovely and brainy lass. Perhaps seeing him make a decision towards his future career options is beyond the scope of the movie. It's a love story so saccharine, it reminds me of a more intelligent version of young love , sweet love on RPN 9.