It's still hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that Patrick Dempsey in his arguable most popular role as the reserved, laid back, assured Dr. Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd from Grey's Anatomy used to actually play the role of the geek! lol Yes, way back in the 1980s (seems like a lifetime ago, which I guess it is), Dempsey regularly essayed the roles of awkward, frenetic, geeky nerds. The height of Dempsey's nerdom was in the 1987 to 1989 time period where he got to star in several serviceable comedies, including this one CAN'T BUY ME LOVE (1987). I recently re-watched this movie having not seen it in a very long time and one thing I forgot was how fast this movie moved. It really just goes from scene to scene not wasting much time. And despite being top heavy in terms of actors that carry the movie, namely Patrick Dempsey (as protagonist Ronald Miller), Amanda Peterson (as love interest Cindy Mancini) and Courtney Gains (as Ronald's best friend Kenneth Wurman), I really find the bulk of the supporting characters to be extremely shallow and forgettable. Contrast this to a film like the cult classic Three O'Clock High, which came out the
same year, and it's slew of memorable supporting and minor characters added on top of the two stellar main character performances. All the minor characters in this comedy piece felt like the same person.
Another thing I realized upon re-watch is that the wardrobe department really went nuts trying to make Dempsey overly nerdy. I don't believe for a second that, even in the 80s, anyone would actually dress like Ronald did. The fact is that Dempsey was never really a nerd, but Hollywood actually tried to make us believe it. I also found it a bit absurd that Ronald this deep into his high school existence would even care about being popular with those jerk jocks who shunned him all those years. Now gaining cred so he could get with those hot cheerleaders is another story! lol But he knew full well that this popularity couldn't and wouldn't last past high school anyway. And did Cindy's "friends" really believe that Ron would dare dump the most popular girl in high school? They really couldn't see through their gimmick?
But the main premise of the film is what really bothered me. The premise of this film is just so flimsy and it doesn't hold up compared to many other great 80s comedies. The fact that Ron had to pay this girl $1000 to be seen with him is disturbing. But what really gets me is the big secret gets exposed, somehow Ronald is the school pariah, but the girl who took his money is still very much popular. Uh, you took money to be his girlfriend, lady. How are you somehow less pathetic than he is? Also, this loser geek manages to snow an entire school into thinking he's actually cool and somehow HE is the only one who is dense in this situation? In reality, this guy would be an absolute legend in the annals of the school's history for pulling off this stunt, not scoffed at. Ken even said it to the group of geeks that Ron actually had a good couple of months of being the most popular kid in school which is something those guys could only dream of having. And although I really did like the individual performances of Dempsey and Peterson, I didn't really buy the love story at all. It seemed too clean and cliche that Cindy realized she loved Ron after only being together for a hot minute. And then somehow he loved her even after he completely dismissed her to be with all those other popular cheerleaders. The post fallout scenes really felt disingenuous to me just to have a happy ending.
Another thing, why did Cindy still remain friends with her popular clique if she had suddenly "awakened"? Maybe it was the acting, or lack thereof, but not once did I feel like any of them became different or better people that would make Cindy stay friends with them. They only liked Cindy because she was popular, then only liked Ron because of some fake relationship with Cindy, and as soon as Cindy outed him, they dumped him like yesterday's newspaper. Also, Cindy staying friends with them and never showing an inclination to be friends with any of Ron's clique or less popular kids says a lot about her character. Basically, she did want the popularity and all that comes with it, but at the same time when she fell for Ron, she only really wanted his full attention minus the hard part of integrating herself with his group of friends. I felt like her character was a bunch of talk and very little action. This romance just didn't hit the right marks for me.
When I was younger, I probably did root for Ron and Cindy, but on re-watch, I found myself caring most about Ron and Ken's relationship and the resolution to that. First, their arcade scene interaction was very raw and heartbreaking. Then in the movie's best scene, Ron stands up to one of those jocks who threatens Ken and this powerful moment pretty much mends their broken relationship. I felt more realism in the dissolution and resolution of the friendship than I did in the cliche happy romantic ending. Another thing I really enjoyed in this movie is Dempsey's energy and physicality. He had a unique ability to use his body to display emotion and this physical comedy was ever present in all the movies he did in the 80s through the 90s before he decided to tone it down to become a more "serious" actor. Probably an unpopular opinion, but this is not my favorite "Patrick Dempsey as a nerd" flick. I'll take the fluffy Loverboy or the energetic Run over this not so timeless comedy.
Another thing I realized upon re-watch is that the wardrobe department really went nuts trying to make Dempsey overly nerdy. I don't believe for a second that, even in the 80s, anyone would actually dress like Ronald did. The fact is that Dempsey was never really a nerd, but Hollywood actually tried to make us believe it. I also found it a bit absurd that Ronald this deep into his high school existence would even care about being popular with those jerk jocks who shunned him all those years. Now gaining cred so he could get with those hot cheerleaders is another story! lol But he knew full well that this popularity couldn't and wouldn't last past high school anyway. And did Cindy's "friends" really believe that Ron would dare dump the most popular girl in high school? They really couldn't see through their gimmick?
But the main premise of the film is what really bothered me. The premise of this film is just so flimsy and it doesn't hold up compared to many other great 80s comedies. The fact that Ron had to pay this girl $1000 to be seen with him is disturbing. But what really gets me is the big secret gets exposed, somehow Ronald is the school pariah, but the girl who took his money is still very much popular. Uh, you took money to be his girlfriend, lady. How are you somehow less pathetic than he is? Also, this loser geek manages to snow an entire school into thinking he's actually cool and somehow HE is the only one who is dense in this situation? In reality, this guy would be an absolute legend in the annals of the school's history for pulling off this stunt, not scoffed at. Ken even said it to the group of geeks that Ron actually had a good couple of months of being the most popular kid in school which is something those guys could only dream of having. And although I really did like the individual performances of Dempsey and Peterson, I didn't really buy the love story at all. It seemed too clean and cliche that Cindy realized she loved Ron after only being together for a hot minute. And then somehow he loved her even after he completely dismissed her to be with all those other popular cheerleaders. The post fallout scenes really felt disingenuous to me just to have a happy ending.
Another thing, why did Cindy still remain friends with her popular clique if she had suddenly "awakened"? Maybe it was the acting, or lack thereof, but not once did I feel like any of them became different or better people that would make Cindy stay friends with them. They only liked Cindy because she was popular, then only liked Ron because of some fake relationship with Cindy, and as soon as Cindy outed him, they dumped him like yesterday's newspaper. Also, Cindy staying friends with them and never showing an inclination to be friends with any of Ron's clique or less popular kids says a lot about her character. Basically, she did want the popularity and all that comes with it, but at the same time when she fell for Ron, she only really wanted his full attention minus the hard part of integrating herself with his group of friends. I felt like her character was a bunch of talk and very little action. This romance just didn't hit the right marks for me.
When I was younger, I probably did root for Ron and Cindy, but on re-watch, I found myself caring most about Ron and Ken's relationship and the resolution to that. First, their arcade scene interaction was very raw and heartbreaking. Then in the movie's best scene, Ron stands up to one of those jocks who threatens Ken and this powerful moment pretty much mends their broken relationship. I felt more realism in the dissolution and resolution of the friendship than I did in the cliche happy romantic ending. Another thing I really enjoyed in this movie is Dempsey's energy and physicality. He had a unique ability to use his body to display emotion and this physical comedy was ever present in all the movies he did in the 80s through the 90s before he decided to tone it down to become a more "serious" actor. Probably an unpopular opinion, but this is not my favorite "Patrick Dempsey as a nerd" flick. I'll take the fluffy Loverboy or the energetic Run over this not so timeless comedy.