THE MOVIE

Say Anything is a teenage romantic movie directed by Cameron Crowe and starring a very young John Cusack.

Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) is a 19 year old who has just finished high school and doesn’t know what he wants to do with himself … except maybe be a professional kick boxer. Into his life strolls Diane Court (Ione Skye), the dux of the school who is both brilliant and beautiful. The good thing about Diane, according to Lloyd, is that she doesn’t realise how beautiful she is.

After plucking up the courage to ask her out (to his amazement she accepts) they go to the end of school party together despite Diane’s reluctance to attend. Diane ends up having a great time and finds that everyone knows who she is (she did just give the school leavers speech), but she doesn’t know anyone as she has been so focused on her school work. With Diane leaving for London with a study scholarship at the end of the summer Lloyd and Diane become close, but she decides that she and Lloyd should just be friends with potential. This comes after discussions with her Dad whom she can, as the title suggests, say anything to. He initially liked Lloyd but starts to feel that he is distracting her from her study ambitions.

When her Dad gets in to trouble for some shady business deals, Diane must re-evaluate her relationship with her father, with Lloyd, and what she wants to do with her life.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

Say Anything is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 widescreen and is 16x9 enhanced.

The transfer on this disc is alright, but unfortunately could be better. The transfer is not very sharp and there is a lack of shadow detail, particularly in night scenes. The colours are also not well rendered and the softness of the transfer causes many scenes to appear washed out and creates a slightly blurred effect.

This film is 13 years old which seems to be a contributing factor in the quality of the transfer. There is quite a bit of film grain present, but it is not too distracting. There is no other film artifacting present on the disc

Audio:

Say Anything is presented with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Although the film was originally presented with a Dolby Digital 2.0 track this new audio transfer isn’t that impressive.

Being a romantic comedy there is not a lot of use for the surround speakers. The surrounds are used to create some minor ambience and compliment the enjoyable score. The score includes music ranging in artists from The Dave Brubeck Quartet to Soundgarden. As can be expected from a Cameron Crowe film, the music captures the people and the time period well. Even the cover for the DVD hints at the influence of music in the film with John Cusack holding a stereo above his head.

The subwoofer channel also is used to primarily support the score. There are no problems with audio sync and the dialog is clear and well presented.

THE EXTRAS

Theatrical Trailer
The only “Extra Feature” on this disc is the original theatrical trailer.

SUMMARY

The Region 4 DVD of Say Anything misses out on a much better video transfer as well as many extras including Audio Commentaries and Extended and Deleted scenes that are available on the Region 1 release. Whilst the film it self is great to watch, the lacklustre transfer is a little disappointing.