Can’t Buy Me Love
★★ 1/2
It's hard to rip into this movie too hard because there is so much '80s cheesiness to love about it. I was six when this movie came out and if I had seen it back then, I'm pretty sure it would have become my favorite movie ever. Seeing it for the first time now, there's no bones about it, this is a bad movie. The jokes aren't funny and the jump in character arcs is a bit extreme.
It's completely understandable why Patrick Dempsey was cast as the "geek turned chic." He's completely goofy in all the right ways. You buy into both his nerdom and popularity. He is game for whatever this script calls him to do, as ridiculous as it all is. This was my first time ever seeing Amanda Peterson, and as a love interest, I didn't think she was terrible. Her clothes are completely epic, but once again, the script has no idea how to make her into an actual person. To add any depth to her motivations, they randomly throw in that she is a poet, and this all becomes completely laughable in all the wrong ways.
Fart jokes, an annoying younger brother (Seth Green) and unforgettable dances run amuck. You'll either find this all way too endearing or barely tolerable. But I have to admit that I was almost won over by the slow clap at the end. It reminded me that maybe I was being to harsh on this film. But when the classic Beatles's song is used as a backdrop to a young couple riding off into the sunset on a lawnmower, it was too much for me to bear.
