Can’t Buy Me Love

The Loft Cinema celebrates Tucson’s birthday month with a special 35mm screening of the totally awesome 1987 teen comedy Can’t Buy Me Love, starring Patrick Dempsey and Amanda Peterson, filmed right here in Tucson! See Tucson High, the Airplane Boneyard, Tucson Mall, Speedway Boulevard, and other local landmarks (including The Loft Cinema, known in the ‘80s as The Showcase Cinema) on the big screen!

Grab a free slice of Tucson Birthday Cake (while supplies last), and enter our free Prize Raffle for fantastic Tucson-centric prizes! It may be true that money can’t buy you love, but it CAN buy you a fun night at The Loft Cinema! 

In Can’t Buy Me Love, ‘80s heartthrob Patrick Dempsey stars as Ronald Miller, a high school nerd dying to be one of the cool kids. Ever the enterprising problem-solver, Ronald hits upon the perfect (at least by ‘80s teen comedy standards) idea: he’ll “rent” the most popular girl at Tucson High (and his secret crush), head cheerleader Cindy Mancini (Amanda Peterson), to pretend to be  his girlfriend for one month, thereby catapulting him to the pinnacle of popularity. But as the title of the film indicates, Ronald’s capitalist schemes may not go exactly according to plan, and through it all, he just might learn that when it comes to love, money changes everything. A funny and charming romantic comedy, Can’t Buy Me Love also features a great supporting cast of ‘80s teen movie regulars, including Courtney Gains (The Burbs) as a nerd with a heart, Seth Green (Pump up the Volume) as Ronald’s psychotic little brother, and Gerardo Mejia (aka “Rico Suave”) as an obnoxious jock. But the greatest cast member has to be Tucson, Arizona, playing itself to perfection. Whether hanging out at Tucson Mall, having a romantic interlude at the Airplane Boneyard, or cruising Speedway Boulevard, the teens of Can’t Buy Me Love are totally “Living La Vida Tucson,” and the Old Pueblo aesthetic pleasantly pervades everything from the set design to the “warm desert” cinematography to the costumes (we’re talking to you, Cindy Mancini’s totally awesome fringed white leather cowgirl jacket!). (Dir. by Steve Rash, 1987, USA, 94 mins., Rated PG-13)