This is close to your average teen movie. It's deeper than American Pie, but doesn't stray to far from the formula. John Cusack stars as Lloyd Dobler. As a writer, Crowe's characters are always pretty well done. I don't know if he wrote the script or not. Lloyd is the best part of the movie. Ione Skye also stars as the self-aware, valedictorian. Dobler is a gentle folk, making due with his kick boxing and proxy brother status. They meet, he falls for her, she's not sure about him. The movie is basically him trying to win her over.

Crowe does a good job of not letting this become to gooey. Dobler is fairly genuine. Unfortunately, Skye's character isn't so. The film ends with a couple of scenes of melancholy and anticipation that seem to have become Crowe's signature.

Oddities:

Bebe Neuwirth and John Mahoney have roles in this as well. A strange Frasier tie for 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

For the DVD:

In the extra scenes, check out the funny takes of the famous boom box above the head. In the film, they choose Peter Gabriel's 'In Your Eyes'. For the filming, it's definitely not.