Synopsis:

Ronald Miller is tired of being a nerd, and makes a deal with one of the most popular girls in school to help him break into the "cool" crowd.

The Freak's Rating: B- : One of my favorite things to do is to re-watch a film that I loved when I was younger and see if it holds up. Can't Buy Me Love was one of my favorites in junior high. I was a band geek. I sat at the football games and wanted to date the cheerleader but never had the guts to ask her. A film about a way to get into the cool crowd had my attention. Can't Buy Me Love is one of the best movies to showcase this element of high school angst ever created. The more recent Easy A also gives a nice depiction. Did it hold up? Just barely.

Patrick Dempsey and Seth Green are the only two actors from this film to ever do much afterwards. Green has starred in one of the highest grossing trilogies of all time in Austin Powers and Dempsey currently stars in one of the top shows on television in Grey's Anatomy. Dempsey is perfect as Ronald Miller, the geeky guy who mows lawns for the mothers of the girls he so desperately would like a date with. Enter the beautiful Cindy Mancini, a cheerleader who turns his life around.

There are tons of cheesy lines here and tons of moments where if you are in the right frame of mind (and nobody is watching) you will love, but not tell anyone you did so. I'm of a different breed, putting my feelings out there and not really caring. This movie left me wanting to ride off into the sunset on a riding lawnmower with my true love wrapped around me. Does that sound like a memory that made you love movies in the 80s or incredibly pathetic? If the former, pick this up for a revisit. If the latter, this will prove to you that the 80s contained nothing good for cinema.

comment here to add your review!