The Say Anything report - a study in male sensitivity 10 years in the making.....

There's only so much I can say about how much I love Say Anything. It represents everything that I want in life and the struggle to achieve it. Greatness. Love. The unexpected and the obvious. Friendship. Family. Laughter. Tears. Say Anything is seriously the greatest movie ever made.

And I've come to realize that there are really only two types of men in this world. The men who grind up on you at the club, who cheat on you, steal from your neighbours, turn into unrecognizable drug addicts, whoplay crazy mind games with you and the Lloyd Doblers of the world.

In fact, I recently read a story in Dose magazine about how girls who are into this movie have a hard time keeping a boyfriend because no guy will really measure up to Lloyd Dobler. I don't really believe that, yet. But Lloyd Dobler is the perfect guy. Confident but shy. Macho ( with his kickboxing) but sensitive. Popular but a loner as well. He is a study in contradictions, and that is exactly what makes him so appealing.

So it is unabashedly that I hereby admit that I use this movie. I use this movie as a shield to protect me from recurring heartache and dissappointment, ( God know I've had enough of that). After careful analysis I've realized that guys' reactions to certain scenes in Say Anything reflect on the way they will inevitably end up treating you. I'm not advocating dumping someone becuase they didn't confess their undying love for all things John Cusack. But I will admit, that after watching this movie with some people, I've stopped holding my breathe waiting for the passenger-side car door to magically open for me or for a real conversation about what me is actually thinking about. So here is a partial list that I have found usefull over they years....

SCENE#43251
Lloyd Dobler teaches Diane Court how to drive a stick shift and the gears are grinding badly, causing irreversable damage on her new car.
If the guy you're watching this scene with is wincing/explaining why this is so bad for her car/ saying that he would never let his girlfriend drive his standard car- he probably will not give you a key to his apartment for like 6 months or will get really bent out of shape when you suggest you leave some of your stuff at his place.

SCENE #276542
Lloyd Dobler is driving around in the rain and then calls his sister from a payphone.
If the guy you're watching this scene with starts laughing hysterically at this scene, in the words of Jennifer Aniston "There's a sensitivity chip missing there." Nuff said.

Basically, I think watching Say Anything with anyone, helps gauge their sensitivity. Because beyond a teen movie and a romance story and a funny movie, Say Anything is a hopeful story about making the ordinary extraordinary. And I thin that's somthing everyone wants to achieve.

"What I really want to do with my life - what I want to do for a living - is I want to be with your daughter. I'm good at it. "
-- Lloyd Dobler