Can't Buy Me Love (1987)
Directed by Steve Rash
Nerdy high schooler Ronald Miller rescues cheerleader Cindy Mancini from parental punishment after she accidentally destroys her mother's designer clothes. Ronald agrees to pay for the $1,000 outfit on one condition: that she will act as though they're a couple for an entire month. As the days pass, however, Cindy grows fond of Ronald, making him popular. But when Ronald's former best friend gets left behind, he realizes that social success isn't everything.
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What critics compared Can't Buy Me Love to
Olive's psyche for the nicer romance side has been formed by '80s teen cinema for which we get a montage of classic moments from Say Anything, Sixteen Candles and from the much-much-much-lesser classic, Can't Buy Me Love, to drive home the film's concept.
Say Anything and Can't Buy Me Love are explicitly referenced, but they're not the only examples.
A major step up for director Will Gluck, who previously helmed 2009's smarmy " Fired Up! ," "Easy A" is nothing short of a love letter to the late, great John Hughes; there are references mischievously sprinkled throughout ("Never had one lesson," Olive replies to her father when he catches her strumming a guitar in her bedroom), choice soundtrack recollections (The Thompson Twins' "If You Were Here," beautifully covered by The Cary Brothers, and Simple Minds' "Don't You Forget About Me" both play pivotal roles), and even a montage of scenes from classic teen flicks encompassing not only Hughes, but also 1987's "Can't Buy Me Love" and 1989's "Say Anything."
The plot sounds an awful lot like She’s All That, Can’t Buy Me Love, 10 Things I Hate About You, Mean Girls, or even Some Kind of Wonderful, and it would be easy to dismiss sight unseen The DUFF as a copycat/rip-off of high school coming-of-age films from decades past.
And, if the film owes its everything to "Sixteen Candles," "Some Kind of Wonderful," "Can't Buy Me Love," "She's All That," "10 Things I Hate About You," and " Mean Girls " (just to name a few), at least its story stays true to its irrepressible heroine without feeling the need to change her.
On its face, with the popular guy teaching the misfit girl how to fit in, it's like "Can't Buy Me Love" in reverse.
The sham arrangement will, of course, be familiar to anyone who’s seen 1987’s far raunchier Can’t Buy Me Love .
No, sorry, that’s Patrick Dempsey in “Can’t Buy Me Love,” but you get the idea.
Riley isn’t trying to be subtle and there’s no way to merely pretend that this is a grown-up version of Can’t Buy Me Love.