The Lloyd Dobler Effect

I feel bad for John Cusack. He has a new movie due out any day now -- Must Love Dogs, co-starring Diane Lane -- but everybody still wants to talk about his old movie, Say Anything...

I'm a huge fan of Say Anything... (although not as big as this person). I even wanted to be Lloyd Dobler. I consider it to be my first "adult" movie. Not in the Frankenblog sense, but in the sense that it was the first movie that I really loved that didn't feature explosions and assault weapons. I even tried my hand at writing a short story about what happened to Lloyd and Diane in London...

Lloyd's kickboxing career is determined, but failing. Diane is being intellectually stimulated by her classmates, and one dashing, young, British lord may be interested in stimulating something else. Things look bleak for the couple. I had this great metaphor: There was a scene where Diane invites Lloyd to an art show to meet her school friends. The pretentious Brits are teasing the meaning out an abstract painting, but all Lloyd can say is, "I think they hung it sideways." It's a typical Lloyd comment made in his nervous talking way, and it generates some condescending laughter. Anyway, later in the story when Diane is trying to choose between Lloyd and the Brit lord, she goes back to the gallery and sees them reinstalling the painting. It was hung sideways, of course. Anyway, that's the synopsis of the story I wrote. It wasn't too bad, but it lacked the essential originality to be any good.

But we were talking about John Cusack, (Check out that last link; it's cool) he is even more haunted by Llyod Dobler than I am. Probably because he looks like Lloyd.

Isn't it a shame that Cusack, who has proven himself to be a superb actor with some real credentials, has been locked into the image of the 18 year old he was. I'm not the same guy I was at 18, and I'm sure Cusack isn't either. Say Anything... was released in 1989. 1989! That's closer to two decades ago than it is to one decade. It was conceived, written and made during the Reagan Era.

In a weird sort of way, Cusack did try to artistically put Lloyd behind him when he did Grosse Pointe Blank. I'm not saying it's a direct sequel, but if you watch the two films back to back some Sunday afternoon, you see the similarities. You definitely have the impression that if Lloyd Dobler "freaked out and joined the Army" instead of working up the courage to ask out Diane Court, he could've turned into the symbolic, laid-back, black suited assassin Martin Blank. I don't think it's coincidence that Martin Blank (Cusack) kills a Bulgarian Assassin (who happens to be played by Llyod Dobler's kickboxing idol, Benny "The Jet" Urquidez) with a pen (much like the one Diane used to break up with Lloyd). There's a subtext there, I swear.

Cusack's career took a real hit when he did Con Air. His built-in audience has never forgiven him for that. Sure, we'll always have Being John Malkovich and High Fidelity, but nothing can help me forget his horrible cartoon portrayal in Con Air. I think what Cusack really needs is a TV role that will beam a completely new indelible impression straight into America's living rooms. Could any of the CSI series benefit from a new lead? Perhaps one not so squeaky clean? There are a slew of quirky genre-crossing shows he could fit into. I'm thinking of something like Desperate Housewives, Lost, or Alias. But there are several weird shows on the Fall schedule. What if Cusack took Lloyd's easy charm and boy next door style, and used it in the service of evil as a criminal or serial killer on a weekly basis?

That might open some doors for Cusack.

BTW, this has little to do with John Cusack, but I always loved this band's name.