Can't Buy Me Love (
1987) is a
teen comedy feature film starring
Patrick Dempsey and
Amanda Peterson in a story about a nerd who buys a cheerleader's company for a month. The film was directed by
Steve Rash.
The film ranked number 41 on
Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies in 2006.
Plot
Ronald Miller (Dempsey) is a typical high school nerd. At an opportune moment, he makes a deal with popular
cheerleader Cindy Mancini (Peterson) to spend $1,000 of his savings to replace a
suede outfit Cindy damaged that belonged to her mother. Cindy has few options and reluctantly agrees to help him look "cool" by pretending to be his girlfriend for a month. Both agree never to reveal the pact.
Ronald then trades his nerdy-but-loyal friends for the shallow popular students and undergoes a complete clothing and hair make-over at Cindy's direction. Over the month, the two discover each other's individuality and are drawn closer together in appreciation. Cindy soon starts to actually like Ronald and becomes jealous when she sees him going out with her girlfriends Barbara and Patty. When the month has ended, Ronald and Cindy dramatically "break up" at school.
Ronald continues playing "cool" by hanging out with the jocks and hot chicks. At a New Year's Eve party, Cindy is brutally dumped by her college boyfriend when he learns about her relationship with Ronald. In anger and frustration, Cindy tells the party-goers the truth about her relationship with Ronald and his "cool" pretenses. Cindy effectively puts Ronald back at square one with not only the hot crowd who avoid him but the nerdy crowd as well.
Ronald suffers much emotional distress at being socially isolated; however, a moment comes to redeem himself when he defends a nerd against the onslaught of a jock. Ronald points out they were all friends at one time and suddenly they are divided into cliques. Cindy recognizes Ronald's worth and the two reconcile when Cindy opts to hop on the back of Ronald's riding lawn mower instead of hanging out with her popular friends. The two share a kiss as the title song plays.
Cast
Production notes
The film was shot on location in
Tucson, Arizona, at
Tucson High Magnet School (then known as Tucson High School). The
choreography is by
Paula Abdul, who makes an uncredited appearance as a dancer. When the filmakers decided to make this a non-union shoot, the
Screen Actor's Guild protested the filming, going so far as to send representatives to the school to discourage students from appearing on camera. Because of this, none of the school's drama students chose to appear as extras in the film.
Reception
Caryn James in the
New York Times wrote that the film missed its mark and traded its potential originality for a bid at popularity by writing, "Michael Swerdlick, the writer, and Steve 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."
Awards and nominations
Young Artist Award- Nominated: Best Young Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy, Amanda Peterson
- Nominated: Best Young Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy, Tina Caspary
- Nominated: Best Family Motion Picture - Comedy
Remake
In
2003,
Can't Buy Me Love was remade as
Love Don't Cost a Thing starring
Nick Cannon and
Christina Milian.
