# Can't Buy Me Love (film)

Can't Buy Me Love is a 1987 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Steve Rash, starring Patrick Dempsey and Amanda Peterson in a story about a nerd at a high school in Tucson, Arizona, who gives a cheerleader $1,000 to pretend to be his girlfriend for a month. The film takes its title from a Beatles song of the same title.

## Plot

Ronald Miller is a typical high school nerd living in suburban Tucson, Arizona. He has spent all summer mowing lawns to save up for a telescope. At an opportune moment, he makes a deal with next-door neighbor and popular cheerleader Cindy Mancini. She had borrowed her mother's expensive suede outfit without permission to wear to a Labor Day party, only to have wine accidentally spilled on it. Cindy reluctantly agrees to help Ronald look "cool" by posing as his girlfriend for a month for $1,000 (which was used to replace the ruined outfit), although she already has a boyfriend, Bobby, who is attending the University of Iowa.
Ronald then trades his nerdy, yet loyal, friends for the popular but shallow students, and undergoes a complete clothing and hair makeover under Cindy's direction. Over time, a bond develops between them. Cindy has Ronald read a secret poem she wrote that means a great deal to her. In turn, Ronald reveals his interests in astronomy and space travel. On their last date that Ronald paid for, Cindy begins to have real feelings for him and hints that she would like to kiss him, but he misunderstands. The next day at school, they stage a breakup in front of a crowd, but Ronald takes things too far and says some hurtful things about Cindy in front of her friends. The next day, Cindy notices him behaving arrogantly at school, and becomes jealous when she sees him flirting with her best friends Barbara and Patty.
Ronald takes Patty to a school dance, where he performs a dance he learned from an African cultural show on public television he mistakenly thought was the latest dance craze performed on American Bandstand. At first, the other kids are mystified, but they soon join in, and Ronald's new "trendy" dancing further increases his popularity. On Halloween night, he and some jocks drive to the house of Kenneth, Ronald's best friend, where the jocks test his loyalty by coercing him to hurl dog feces at Kenneth's house. Kenneth is lying in wait and catches Ronald, but lets him go before his father can call the police. Kenneth ignores him the next day at school.
At a New Year's Eve party at Big John's house, Ronald starts drinking and has a romantic tryst with his date, Iris, in the bathroom. Cindy walks by and hears Ronald reciting her special poem to Iris. Cindy's boyfriend, Bobby, unexpectedly shows up at the party. and when he learns about her "relationship" with Ronald, breaking up with her. In a drunken rage, Cindy reveals the truth about her and Ronald to the partygoers, and Ronald is immediately ostracized. When school resumes, he finds himself a social outcast, by both the jocks and the nerds. His attempts to reconcile with both Cindy and Kenneth are rebuffed.
Ronald gets an opportunity to redeem himself at lunch when he sees Quint, a jock, bullying Kenneth after noticing Kenneth helping Patty with her math homework. Ronald breaks up the fight and points out how pointless school tribalism is, drawing applause from his peers. A few days later, Ronald shows up at Cindy's house in the morning on his riding lawnmower, waking her up and then apologizing to her for all he did to her. He pours out his heart to her, saying that all he ever wanted was to be close to her and popularity was not the goal. Ronald then asks Cindy to prom, and they kiss for the first time. The new couple then ride off into the sunset on the lawnmower.

## Cast

* Patrick Dempsey as Ronald Miller
* Amanda Peterson as Cindy Mancini
* Tina Caspary as Barbara
* Darcy DeMoss as Patty
* Cort McCown as Quint
* Eric Bruskotter as Big John
* Gerardo Mejía as Ricky
* Courtney Gains as Kenneth Wurman
* Seth Green as Chuck Miller
* Sharon Farrell as Mrs. Mancini
* Dennis Dugan as David Miller
* Cloyce Morrow as Judy Miller
* Devin DeVasquez as Iris
* Ami Dolenz as Fran
* Lisa Givens as Bambi La Brock
* Max Perlich as Lester
* Steve Franken as Moda Clerk
* Tudor Sherrard as Brent

## 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.
On a date where the main characters begin to bond, they jump the perimeter wall and explore the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group Aircraft Bone Yard on Davis–Monthan Air Force Base that contains 4,400 aircraft.
The film was originally titled Boy Rents Girl but was changed when rights to The Beatles song of the same name were obtained. The cast included long time character actor, Steve Franken, in a minor role, and Seth Green in one of his earlier roles.

## Critical reception

Can't Buy Me Love received mixed reviews from critics. Caryn James, in The New York Times, wrote that the film missed its mark and traded its potential originality for a bid at popularity:
   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.
Roger Ebert gave the film a half star out of a possible 4:
   If Can't Buy Me Love had been intended as a satirical attack on American values – if cynicism had been its target – we might be on to something here. But no. On the basis of the evidence, the people who made this movie are so materialistic they actually think this is a "teenage comedy". Can't they see the screenplay's rotten core?
Rotten Tomatoes has a rating of 50% based on 24 critics with the consensus: "While Can't Buy Me Love gets some value out of its plucky leads, this romantic comedy struggles to find grace in a cynical conceit that belongs in the bargain bin." In 2006, it ranked number 41 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies.

## Awards

Young Artist Award
* Won: Best Young Actor in a Motion Picture—Comedy, Patrick Dempsey
* 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

## Home media

Touchstone Home Entertainment released the film on VHS and DVD on August 14, 2002.
As of June 2022, it is available for streaming via Disney+ in Canada, and previously on Netflix, Cinemax, Tubi, Hulu, and The Roku Channel in the US.

## Soundtrack

In 2013, Intrada Records released Robert Folk's complete score for the film on a limited edition CD paired with David Newman's work for Paradise.

## Remake

In 2003, Can't Buy Me Love was remade as Love Don't Cost a Thing starring Nick Cannon and Christina Milian. Though the triggering event differs between the two films, many of the aspects/scenes from the original film are reinterpreted in this remake, such as the eating of raw egg in the Home Economics classroom, as well as the cheerleader telling the bully that he is sitting in the wrong section in the cafeteria and that he needs to sit in the "asshole section" of the cafeteria.