The iconic Llyod Dobler. I'd totally fall for this romantic gesture.
Anyone reading my blog for the last year knows I'm an 80s girl through and through. While I loved all the Brat Packer/John Hughes movies, my favorite actor of the era/genre was on the fringe of this definition.
To hell with Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, and Charlie Sheen, I was a Cusack girl.
To celebrate the art of the man who created some of the most romantic and funny figures of the 80s, I give you his best.
Sixteen Candles - Cusack played Bryce, comic sidekick to Anthony Michael Hall's Farmer Ted, the geek. His freshman awkwardness and wish to see a female extra-terrestrial's assets was a little bit of hilarious.
Allison getting her college education in how-to shotgun a beer.
The Sure Thing - Walter "Gib" Gibson walks the thin line between being a guy and being a man. Does he choose love or does he choose an easy lay? It was a smart teenaged rom-com, and I'm sure I was one of many bookish gals that cheered when he took a chance on love over the sure thing. Extremely quotable.
Better Off Dead - blackest of humor with Lane Myer getting dumped by his superficial blonde girlfriend. His half-hearted suicide attempts are not taken serious by anyone, but does attract the interest of curly-haired brunette Monique. Lots of funny catch-phrases and a spectacular claymation sequence to Van Halen's "Everybody Wants Some!!!"
Man in uniform.
Eight Men Out - not a teenaged comedy, but a historical drama surrounding the scandal of the 1919 White Sox. He played third baseman Buck Weaver with earnestness as well as a quiet rage in an effort to play the game with integrity while maintaining his innocence. One of my favorite baseball movies. As a Tigers fan, leave it to Cusack to make me sympathetic to the plight of an effing Sox player.
Say Anything... - He's simply beautiful as Lloyd Dobler. The ladies in the movie, from his sister to his best friends to Diane Court, adore him. So do his guy friends. He's sincere, romantic, and while still a teenager, he prefers to be honest with his love instead of "hanging out at the Gas 'n' Sip on a Saturday night, no women in sight anywhere." Him shivering in the backseat while holding Diane in his arms warms my heart. Then there is the iconic boombox grand gesture of love. *sigh*
A mixtape... I'll make her a mixtape.
High Fidelity - All grown up, this is my bonus pick. He plays crabby Rob Gordon, an anti-hero music geek who is a complete opposite of his funny, romantic teenaged characters, a major screw-up that still manages to turn it around. I love his music geekdom, making top 5 lists for any situation and of course, creating the ultimate mix tape. His contemplative review of affairs from the heart are funny, dark, tragic and self-revealing. Funny bit: best death song, "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."
No comments:
Post a Comment