Can't Buy Me Love is a 1987 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Steve Rash. The movie stars Patrick Dempsey and Amanda Peterson, who play Ronald Miller and Cindy Mancini. The story follows Ronald, a student at a high school in Tucson, Arizona, who gives Cindy, a cheerleader, $1,000 to pretend to be his girlfriend for one month. The film's name comes from a Beatles song with the same title.

Plot

Ronald Miller is an ordinary high school student living in suburban Tucson, Arizona. He worked all summer mowing lawns to save money for a telescope. When a good opportunity arose, he made an agreement with his neighbor, Cindy Mancini, a popular cheerleader. Cindy had borrowed her mother’s expensive suede outfit without permission to wear to a Labor Day party, but she accidentally spilled wine on it. She agreed to help Ronald look "cool" by pretending to be his girlfriend for a month in exchange for $1,000, which he used to replace the ruined outfit. Cindy already had a boyfriend, Bobby Hilton, who was attending the University of Iowa.

Ronald changed his friends from his loyal but nerdy group to the popular but shallow students. Under Cindy’s guidance, he got a new haircut and changed his clothing style. Over time, they formed a bond. Cindy shared a secret poem she wrote that was meaningful to her, and Ronald shared his interests in astronomy and space. During their last date, which Ronald paid for, Cindy showed real feelings for him and hinted she wanted to kiss him, but Ronald misunderstood. The next day at school, they staged a breakup in front of others, but Ronald said hurtful things about Cindy in front of her friends. Later, Cindy noticed Ronald acting arrogantly at school and became jealous when she saw him flirting with her friends Barbara and Patty.

Ronald took Patty to a school dance and performed a dance he learned from an African cultural show on public television, which he mistakenly believed was a new dance trend. At first, others were confused, but they joined in, and Ronald’s new dancing style increased his popularity. On Halloween night, Ronald and some jocks visited Kenneth Wurman, Ronald’s best friend, and the jocks forced Ronald to throw dog feces at Kenneth’s house. Kenneth was waiting and caught Ronald, but let him go before his father called the police. Kenneth ignored Ronald the next day at school.

At a New Year’s Eve party at Big John’s house, Ronald drank alcohol and had a romantic moment with his date, Iris, in the bathroom. Cindy heard Ronald recite her special poem to Iris. Cindy’s boyfriend, Bobby, unexpectedly arrived and broke up with her publicly after learning about her "relationship" with Ronald. In a drunken rage, Cindy told everyone the truth about her connection to Ronald, and Ronald was immediately treated badly by others. When school started again, Ronald became an outcast among both the jocks and the nerds. His attempts to reconcile with Cindy and Kenneth were refused.

Ronald had a chance to make things right during lunch when he saw Quint, a jock, bullying Kenneth after Kenneth helped Patty with math. Ronald stopped the fight and explained how pointless school group fighting was, earning applause from his classmates. A few days later, Ronald arrived at Cindy’s house early in the morning on his riding lawnmower, woke her up, and apologized for hurting her. He shared his feelings, explaining that he only wanted to be close to her and that popularity was never his goal. Ronald then asked Cindy to prom, and they kissed for the first time. The new couple then rode off into the sunset on the lawnmower.

Production notes

The film was filmed in Tucson, Arizona, at Tucson High Magnet School (then called Tucson High School). The dance moves were created by Paula Abdul, who appeared in the movie as a dancer without being credited. During a scene where the main characters, Ronald Miller (played by Patrick Dempsey) and Cindy Mancini (played by Amanda Peterson), begin to connect, they jump over a wall to explore the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group Aircraft Bone Yard at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, which holds 4,400 aircraft.

The film was first called Boy Rents Girl but was renamed after the rights to a Beatles song with the same title were acquired. The cast included Steve Franken, a well-known character actor, in a small role, and Seth Green in one of his first roles.

Critical reception

The movie Can't Buy Me Love received different opinions from critics. Caryn James, who wrote for The New York Times, said the film did not meet expectations and chose popularity over being unique. Roger Ebert gave the film a rating of half a star out of four possible stars. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 48% rating from 25 critics. The general opinion is that while the movie uses its enthusiastic actors well, it struggles to be meaningful because of an uninspired idea. In 2006, the film was ranked number 41 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies.

Awards

• Won: Best Young Actor in a Comedy Movie, Patrick Dempsey
• Nominated: Best Young Actress in a Comedy Movie, Amanda Peterson
• Nominated: Best Young Actress in a Comedy Movie, Tina Caspary
• Nominated: Best Family Comedy Movie

Home media

Touchstone Home Entertainment put out the film on VHS and DVD on August 14, 2002. As of June 2022, it is available for streaming on Disney+ in Canada. It was also available on Netflix, Cinemax, Tubi, Hulu, and The Roku Channel in the United States.

Soundtrack

In 2013, Intrada Records released a limited edition CD. The CD includes Robert Folk's complete score for the film and David Newman's music for Paradise.

Remake

In 2003, the movie Can't Buy Me Love was remade as Love Don't Cost a Thing, starring Nick Cannon and Christina Milian. Although the starting event is different in the two films, many scenes from the original are shown again in the remake. These include the scene where a character eats a raw egg in the Home Economics classroom, and the scene where a cheerleader tells a bully he is in the wrong section in the cafeteria and needs to sit in the "asshole section" instead.