| Can't Buy Me Love | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Steve Rash |
| Written by | Michael Swerdlick |
| Produced by | Thom Mount |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Peter Lyons Collister |
| Edited by | Jeff Gourson |
| Music by | Robert Folk |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution |
Release date |
|
Running time | 94 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $31.6 million |
Can't Buy Me Love is a 1987 Americanteenromantic comedy film directed bySteve Rash,[1] starringPatrick Dempsey andAmanda Peterson in a story about Ronald Miller, a nerd at a high school inTucson, Arizona, who gives cheerleader Cindy Mancini $1,000 to pretend to be his girlfriend for a month. The film takes its title from aBeatles song of thesame title.
Ronald Miller is a typical high school nerd living in suburbanTucson, Arizona. He has spent all summer mowing lawns to save up for atelescope. At an opportune moment, he makes a deal with next-door neighbor and popularcheerleader Cindy Mancini. She had borrowed her mother's expensive suede outfit without permission to wear to aLabor Day party, only to have wine accidentally spilled on it. Cindy reluctantly agrees to help Ronald look "cool" by posing as his girlfriend for a month for $1,000 (which was used to replace the ruined outfit), although she already has a boyfriend, Bobby Hilton, who is attending theUniversity of Iowa.
Ronald then trades his nerdy, yet loyal, friends for the popular but shallow students, and undergoes a complete clothing and hair makeover under Cindy's direction. Over time, a bond develops between them. Cindy has Ronald read a secret poem she wrote that means a great deal to her. In turn, Ronald reveals his interests inastronomy andspace travel. On their last date that Ronald paid for, Cindy begins to have real feelings for him and hints that she would like to kiss him, but he misunderstands. The next day at school, they stage a breakup in front of a crowd, but Ronald takes things too far and says some hurtful things about Cindy in front of her friends. The next day, Cindy notices him behaving arrogantly at school, and becomes jealous when she sees him flirting with her best friends Barbara and Patty.
Ronald takes Patty to a school dance, where he performs a dance he learned from an African cultural show on public television he mistakenly thought was the latest dance craze performed onAmerican Bandstand. At first, the other kids are mystified, but they soon join in, and Ronald's new "trendy" dancing further increases his popularity. OnHalloween night, he and some jocks drive to the house of Kenneth Wurman, Ronald's best friend, where the jocks test his loyalty by coercing him to hurl dog feces at Kenneth's house. Kenneth is lying in wait and catches Ronald, but lets him go before his father can call the police. Kenneth ignores him the next day at school.
At a New Year's Eve party at Big John's house, Ronald starts drinking and has a romantic tryst with his date, Iris, in the bathroom. Cindy walks by and hears Ronald reciting her special poem to Iris. Cindy's boyfriend, Bobby, unexpectedly shows up at the party, and when he learns about her "relationship" with Ronald, very publicly breaks up with her. In a drunken rage, Cindy reveals the truth about her ties to Ronald to the partygoers, and Ronald is immediatelyostracized. When school resumes, he finds himself asocial outcast, by both the jocks and the nerds. His attempts to reconcile with both Cindy and Kenneth are rebuffed.
Ronald gets an opportunity to redeem himself at lunch when he sees Quint, a jock, bullying Kenneth after noticing Kenneth helping Patty with her math homework. Ronald breaks up the fight and points out how pointless school tribalism is, drawing applause from his peers. A few days later, Ronald shows up at Cindy's house in the morning on his riding lawnmower, waking her up and then apologizing for all he did to her. He pours out his heart to her, saying that all he ever wanted was to be close to her and popularity was not the goal. Ronald then asks Cindy to prom, and they kiss for the first time. The new couple then ride off into the sunset on the lawnmower.
The film was shot on location inTucson, Arizona, atTucson High Magnet School (then known as Tucson High School).[3] Thechoreography is byPaula Abdul, who makes an uncredited appearance as a dancer.[4] On a date where the main characters Ronald Miller (Patrick Dempsey) and Cindy Mancini (Amanda Peterson) begin to bond, they jump the perimeter wall and explore the309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group Aircraft Bone Yard onDavis–Monthan Air Force Base that contains 4,400 aircraft.
The film was originally titledBoy Rents Girl but was changed when rights toThe Beatlessong of the same name were obtained. The cast included long time character actorSteve Franken in a minor role, andSeth Green in one of his earlier roles.
Can't Buy Me Love received mixed reviews from critics. Caryn James, inThe New York Times, wrote that the film missed its mark and traded its potential originality for a bid at popularity:
Michael Swerdlick, the writer, andSteve Rash, the director ... waste a chance to make the much deeper, funnier movie that strains to break through.... [The film] ... has an identity crisis that's a mirror-image of Ronald's own. He thinks he wants popularity at any price, though he's really a sincere guy. The film thinks it wants to be sincere, when all it truly wants is to be popular, just like the other kids' movies, so it sells off its originality.[5]
Roger Ebert gave the film a half star out of a possible 4:
IfCan't Buy Me Love had been intended as asatirical attack on American values – if cynicism had been its target – we might be on to something here. But no. On the basis of the evidence, the people who made this movie are so materialistic they actually think this is a "teenage comedy". Can't they see the screenplay's rotten core?[1]
Rotten Tomatoes has a rating of 48% based on 25 critics with the consensus: "WhileCan't Buy Me Love gets some value out of its plucky leads, this romantic comedy struggles to find grace in a cynical conceit that belongs in the bargain bin."[6] In 2006, it ranked number 41 onEntertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies.[7][8]
Touchstone Home Entertainment released the film on VHS and DVD on August 14, 2002. As of June 2022, it is available for streaming viaDisney+ in Canada, and previously onNetflix,Cinemax,Tubi,Hulu andThe Roku Channel in the US.
In 2013,Intrada Records releasedRobert Folk's complete score for the film on a limited edition CD paired withDavid Newman's work forParadise.[9]
In 2003,Can't Buy Me Love was remade asLove Don't Cost a Thing starringNick Cannon andChristina Milian.[10] Though the triggering event differs between the two films, many of the aspects/scenes from the original film are reinterpreted in this remake, such as the eating of raw egg in the Home Economics classroom, as well as the cheerleader telling the bully that he is sitting in the wrong section in the cafeteria and that he needs to sit in the "asshole section" of the cafeteria.
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