John Cusack as romantic lead? It didn’t seem likely, but that’s exactly what happened with the alchemy of Cameron Crowe’s lovely 1989 rom-com (his directorial debut). Ione Skye is the girl, and John Mahoney her disapproving father. Cusack was just graduating from teen fodder when Crowe gifted him with the role of a decade. Set in Seattle, the film has Cusack’s kid from the wrong side of the tracks fall hard for a college-bound high achiever. Though something of a shambling oaf, whose only goal in life is to become a pro kick-boxer, he somehow locates his own inner Cary Grant to woo her. Well, a Cary Grant for the grunge era, since Crowe’s soundtrack includes Mother Love Bone, Soundgarden, and The Replacements. (Look for Lili Taylor and Eric Stoltz, Crowe’s good-luck charm, in nice supporting roles.) Two decades later, there are plenty of women in their 30s and 40s who are, perhaps after a divorce or two, still looking for their Lloyd Dobler. Note: a 2 p.m. ceremony for the film occurs at the Guild 45th Theater, being honored by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment as a location in the movie; no ticket price information for the screening is available. (PG-13) BRIAN MILLER

Thu., Sept. 2, 7 p.m., 2010