Customer Reviews

Can't Buy Me Love [VHS]

5 star:		(81)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Amusing story of a nerdy high school student Ronald Miller (Patrick Dempsey) who discovers that becoming popular isn't the greatest thing in the world. After she accidentally ruins her mother's suede dress with some wine, Cyndi, the most popular girl at school (played wonderfully by Amanda Petersen) will do anything to replace it before her mother gets back from her trip.

Enter Ronald. After seeing her desperate attempt to replace the dress at the mall, Ronald makes a deal with Amanda. He'll use the money that he has earned all summer by mowing lawns to buy a new dress, in return for Amanda's help in turning him to Mr. popularity.

Along the way, Ronnie learns lessons about the true value of having real friends, and towards the end of the movie Ronald discovers that he is still himself.

This film, which is no longer produced by Touchstone Video (a division of the Disney Corporation) features many couple of stars before they hit it big. Gerardo, the Latin-singing star who scored a one-hit wonder with "Rico Suave," plays one of the football jocks in the film. However, the real scene-stealer in this film is Seth Green ("Austin Powers"; "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" "Can't Hardly Wait") who plays Ronald's annoying, yet hysterical little brother, Chuckie. By taking a look at Seth in this past role you can understand why he is such a big star today. He is always a trip when it comes to comedic performances.

I loved this film for many reasons, but I think the most memorable scene in this film probably has to be Ronald learning an African dance he saw on television (he thought he was watching "American Bandstand"). After learning it, Ronald performs it at the big dance, not knowing that it would become a huge hit.

This film ranks among the 10 best teenage comedies produced in the 1980's. Let's only hope that it will be re-released on video and DVD in the near future.

An 80's teen romantic comedy that you can watch over and over again. There is more to the story being told than money cant buy you love. I think a deeper message to this story is no matter how life changes and the world around you changes dont get caught up in all. Stay who you are and true to yourself and everything will work out in the end. On another note Im very happy that Buena Vista Home Entertainment is finally going to put this movie out on DVD this summer. So to all of you Can't Buy Me Love fans out there lets hope they include some special features. I myself would love to hear a commentary from Patrick Dempsey and Amanda Peterson and some deleated scenes. There is not much info from Buena Vista other than its being released this summer. ...

i ran into this movie on tbs when i was on vacation this august. i was too busy to watch the whole thing.. but what i did see, i totally liked! it was weird that i saw it on that day because it was the same day that it was released on dvd! i was so happy! if u like 80's movies.. u are in for a treat. after i saw this movie i got a big crush on patrick dempsey.... old or young.. he just looks great! u must see this movie! go buy or rent it now!

I can only vouch for the VHS version, but this movie is a total classic. While it has a solid message about the futility of popularity and the innate human urge to make tribal judgements about others, it is also a delicious piece of entertainment.

Pat Dempsey gives a stellar performance as Ronald McDonald Miller, the RoboNerd who fakes his way into the fast lane, and Amanda Peterson proves she is more than just serious eye candy with a sensitive and intelligent portrayal of the head cheerleader and Ron's dream girl. Yet in spite of a brilliant performance in a very very hip teen movie, Amanda didn't seem to do any films worth a dang after this classic. What an outrageous waste of talent.

The excellent supporting cast, script and John Hughes quality direction make Can't Buy Me Love one of the most refreshing and intelligently "feel good" movies of all time. LOVE the ending.

While this was far from the greatest movie ever made, I give this 5 stars because it speaks to a part of us that wants so badly to be accepted and another revelation that people are nothing but followers if you know the right buttons to push.

Ronald, a dork, has been mooning over the most popular girl in school whose lawn he's been mowing for years. He also wishes to be invited to all the A list parties, be liked by others than his fellow nerds, and just be liked. When the most popular girl in school, Cindy, is in a moment of peril, he offers her a large wad of cash to buy himself popularity. The two pose as a couple at their school, with her at his side he is able to walk down the Popular Kids' hallway, eat at their lunch tables, and become included in their social activities. Eventually, according to plan, he and Cindy split and his popular status is secured. Ron, however, gets a swelled head as he feels he has accomplished something when others haven't, and leaves all his former nerd friends in the dust. When Cindy, in a moment of anger, reveils that the whole thing was a plot and that he bribed her affection, he gets a sudden cold shoulder. Now Ron is really alone.

People are followers, no doubt about that. Ron finds out that the people whose admiration and friendship he sought so hard for are actually shallow and arrogant. He himself became shallow and arrogant, and forgot who his real friends were. The sweetly awkward nerds were more genuine friends than he ever hoped for. Even the sluttiest girl in the school (who gave more rides than Greyhound) was ashamed she's done the deed with him! As this was still a fantasy type movie, things work out in the end that Cindy discovers she really does care for him because he's not shallow like her other friends he just wanted to be liked. Even his nerd friends accept him back, and everyone in school learns a valuable lesson about acceptance. Huzza for the 80s.

This film has to be one of the most underrated films of the 80s. It's such a classic...I mean what's better than boy meets girl,boy pays girl,boy loses girl and then gets her back? Loved it ever since I was a little kid and it never gets old. It just goes to show that you should be who you are.

I was really looking forward to buying this DVD when it was released until I saw that it was fullscreen only. I refuse to buy the DVD until they release it in widescreen.

"Can't Buy Me Love" (1987) was probably made to cash in on the rush of 80s romantic comedies but it succeeds where others fail, mainly because "Love" has a real message to send out - - be very careful what you wish for; you just may get it and it may not be what you thought you wanted.
Patrick Dempsey, pre-Grey's Anatomy, is Ronnie Miller, a nerdy, smart kid who hates being in the unpopular group, who can't sit in the home section at football games and can't sit anywhere near the "cool" kids in the school cafeteria. He's been saving up for many summers (cutting grass) to buy a really awesome telescope. He goes to the mall to get it and instead runs into Cindy Mancini (Amanda Petersen), the girl of his dreams, who is pretty, popular and the head cheerleader. Although they go to school together and Ronnie cuts her grass, Cindy doesn't even know his name. Cindy is in a predicament - - she has worn her mom's off-limits suede outfit to an end of summer party and got wine spilled on it. A replacement is a thousand dollars - - which Ronnie happens to have handy. He forsakes his telescope, instead "paying" Cindy a thousand dollars to pretend to be his girlfriend for the first month of school. As imagined, the alleged match is met with skepticism and horror by the "in crowd" and just plain skepticism by Ronnie's old friends, who he will soon abandon for life in the fast lane of the popular kids. Cindy makes Ronnie over, to make him look more hip and cool, and she soon begins to see more in Ronnie than originally met her eye. But their one month contract is up, and Ronnie has come to believe his own popularity. Will Ronnie fall from grace with the popular kids? Will he realize that Cindy has fallen for him? Will they get together?
Pretty basic stuff, but "Love" is such a fun movie because it will really remind you of high school. The popular kids look down on the "nerdy" kids, picking on them when bored. The popular girls that never gave Ronnie a look when he was sitting with the nerds are now falling over each other to date him, once he is "seeing" Cindy. Cindy proves to be a pleasant surprise - - she is pretty, blonde and a cheerleader, but she has depth. She is a secret writer, something she shares only with Ronnie - - and she complains to him that she doesn't "do" anything but hang out and shop, and she wants to do more, but people don't expect anything else from her. Touching stuff.
Amanda Petersen is wonderful as Cindy - - you can feel her admiration and affection for Ronnie building, and feel as crushed as she does over Ronnie's transformation into the media monster who believes his own hype. What ever happened to this appealing actress anyhow?
The message the film sends across is perhaps a little schmaltzy towards the end (only filmmakers in Hollywood think that popular kids in school are going to applaud what a perceived nerdy kid says in the cafeteria) but incredibly satisfying. While feeling that Ronnie deserves the come-uppance that he gets, you also feel sympathy that he was exposed in such a public manner and that he is blacklisted not only by the popular group but also by his former friends. Patrick Dempsey brings a tenderness and yearning to Ronnie that makes him so appealing, even when he's being full of himself.
Does Ronnie get his girl at the end? Well, it is a romantic comedy and an 80s movie, so that answer should be fairly clear, but it's a fun journey to get there!
A really sweet and endearing film - recommended.

One of the best teen movies of all time, especially for the generation x crowd. Patrick Dempsey and Amanda Peterson were perfectly cast, and the desert setting,(Tuscon, Arizona)put the icing on the cake. What was really nice about this movie was the fact that nudity and foul language were not needed to get the point across. I did a little research and realized that Dempsey was in his early twenties, maybe 21, when he filmed this movie, while Amanda Peterson was 5 years younger.If you have a soul, this movie will touch you in some way.

I first this movie in the theatres when i was child back in the 1980's. This film is about Ronald Miller, a regular guy from Arizona who mows lawns and goes to High school. One lawn in particular belongs to Cindy Mancini, the most popular girl in town,who does not even acknowledge Ronald's existence. Well, Cindy goes to a party wearing an expensive outfit that her mother forbade her to wear when she asked her. One of the jocks gets careless with his red wine and throws it right onto Mancini's outfit. Now, Cindy is in trouble when she can't get the stains out or a replacement dress. Then, Ronald offers to pay for the dress if she goes out with him because he is certain that it will instantly make him the most popular guy in school and he is right. But,when Ronald makes friends with the jocks his somewhat dorky ex-friends resent his ignoring them and Ronald eventually is pressured into throwing crap at his best friend's house on Halloween. Then the best part of the movie comes, Ronald realizes that they were all friends when they were younger and gives a GREAT speech when one of the jocks get angry that a dork is tutoring one of the hot cheerleader chicks. The jock says "this guy is pulling a Ronald Miller" and Ronald smashes a bat and admits that he changed as a person when he became popular. After that, nobody thinks that Ronald is a Dork for what he did anymore and begin to feel his pain. He is back to being same old Ronald, who Cindy falls for because she see's him for who he is.
THIS MOVIE IS GREAT. A TRUE TEEN CHARMER