Can't Buy Me Love (1987)

A nerdy outcast secretly pays the most popular girl in school one thousand dollars to be his girlfriend.

Director:

Steve Rash

Writer:

Michael Swerdlick

Stars:

Patrick Dempsey, Amanda Peterson, Courtney Gains

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Patrick Dempsey	...	Ronald Miller
Amanda Peterson	...	Cindy Mancini
Courtney Gains	...	Kenneth Wurman
Tina Caspary	...	Barbara
Seth Green	...	Chuckie Miller
Sharon Farrell	...	Mrs. Mancini
Darcy DeMoss	...	Patty
Dennis Dugan	...	David Miller
Cloyce Morrow	...	Judy Miller
Devin DeVasquez	...	Iris
Cort McCown	...	Quint
Eric Bruskotter	...	Big John
Gerardo Mejía	...	Ricky
Ami Dolenz	...	Fran
Max Perlich	...	Lester

Storyline

Ronald Miller is tired of being a nerd, and makes a deal with one of the most popular girls in school to help him break into the "cool" clic. He offers her a thousand dollars to pretend to be his girlfriend for a month. It succeeds, but he soon learns that the price of popularity may be higher than he expected.

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Plot Keywords:

popularity | money | poker game | cheerleader | nerd | 

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Taglines:

Ronald is making an investment in his senior year. He's hiring the prettiest cheerleader in school to be his girlfriend.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 August 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Boy Rents Girl

Filming Locations:

3050 N Hill Farm Drive, Tucson, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$31,623,833 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Apollo Pictures, Silver Screen Partners III, The Mount Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Patrick Dempsey, now a car collector and race driver, used all of his salary from the movie paying for his first car, a 1963 356 Porsche convertible.

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Goofs

Fran's position after Quint throws the wine on Cindy.

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Quotes

Chuckie Miller: You nuked my brother.
Cindy Mancini: What?
Chuckie Miller: You took him from "geek" status to "king" status to no status.
Cindy Mancini: Chuckie Miller, right? He resorted to sending his messenger boy?
Chuckie Miller: Boy? I see no boy here.
[Cindy puts powder on his face]
Chuckie Miller: You think you shut me up?
Cindy Mancini: I didn't? Well, let me try again.
[attempts to put lipstick on Chuckie]
Chuckie Miller: [leaves]
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Made of Honor (2008)

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Soundtracks

"As Long as I Can Last"
Written and Performed by Randy Hall
Courtesy of MCA Records

User Reviews

Surprisingly good and is much better then one might expect it to be.

It kind of reminded me of revenge of the nerds. I liked this cute little movie about a geeky boy who pays the hottest highschool cheerleader at his school to pose as his girlfriend. This is a fun movie and one that works surprisingly well. One of the better teen comedies from the 80's. Myabe not as popular as some others but just as good and somehow does not come across as ridiculous as so many similar movies of this time period did. It's a definite must see for anyone who appreciates a movie like "Revenge of the nerds" and hasn't got to see this yet. I really enjoyed it. Obviously the movie's not an Oscar winner or to highly original but it works and as teen movies go, it is toward the top of the heap.