Better Off Dead Review

MPAA Rating: PG
Released: 1985

Better Off Dead is a zany and charming teen comedy that stars John Cusack as Lane Myer, an average young man that was just dumped by his first love. To pour salt on his raw emotional wounds, everyone from the postman to his math teacher seems to want to date his now eligible ex-girlfriend, and as if that weren't enough he must face a wild diversity of challenges ranging from a demented paperboy to a pair of Asian street racers.

There is a time in many teenagers' lives where they feel like the world has turned against them, and wonder whether they would actually be better off dead. While such states of mind are quite temporary for most, Lane Myer (John Cusack) seriously contemplates this question day after day. Why?

Well, first Beth Truss (Amanda Wyss), his girlfriend of six months and the love of his life, has unceremoniously dumped him, electing to cozy up to the captain of the ski team instead. A twisted paperboy with a fascination for smashing windows is stalking him relentlessly to collect on the $2.00 owed to him. His best buddy, Charles De Mar (Curtis Armstrong), seems more obsessed with snorting everything from real snow to jello than he does helping him out of his troubles. And that's just the half of it!

Lane decides the only way he will win his girl back is to challenge the arrogant captain of the ski team, Roy Stalin (Aaron Dozier), to a race down the most treacherous slope on the mountain: the K-12. Of course he's never successfully skied that slope successfully, and really has little chance of finishing the race, much less winning it. What's a young man to do? Well… kill himself, of course! Except that somehow Lane can't even manage to do that successfully…

You might expect a comedy dealing with teen angst and suicidal thoughts to be blacker than a lump of charcoal, but surprisingly Better Off Dead is not a black comedy. Although it hits upon some potent emotions and scenarios, it does so with a lighthearted wink and a grin that never allows the film to feel morbid or depressing.

Although Better Off Dead tosses a wide assortment of crazy and hilarious situations at us, one of the highlights of the film for me was a pair of Asian brothers that have a long rivalry with Lane. Each time they face off with Lane at a stoplight, the English-speaking brother announces the pending race via a loudspeaker attached to his car roof in a style reminiscent of sports announcer Howard Cossell:

Truly a sight to behold – a man beaten. The once great champ, now a study of mawkishness. No longer the victory-hungry stallion we've raced so many times before, but a pathetic, washed-up, aged ex-champion.

The scenes are not prolonged or terribly frequent, but when they arrive they pack a potent punch to the funny bone.

John Cusack does a wonderful job with the role of Lane Myers – his character is both amusing yet someone that most of us can relate to. The scenarios he finds himself in are outrageous, yet somehow they strike a chord of truth.

The secondary actors are good for quite a few laughs too. Curtis Armstrong, perhaps best known for his role as Booger in Revenge of the Nerds, brings along a quirky character and some ironically amusing lines such as: "Lane, I've been going to this high school for seven and a half years. I'm no dummy."

Diane Franklin, who also starred in The Last American Virgin, plays the role of Monique Junot, a French foreign-exchange student living next door to Lane. Naturally she plays a major role in helping Lane conquer his inner demons, and while her primary purpose is as a cute love interest she does bring some interesting exchanges to the table:

Monique: Instead, he used it as a chance to put his testicles all over me.
Lane: Uhh, his what?
Monique: How you say – octopus, testicles?
Lane: No. Tentacles. N-T. Tentacles. There's a big difference.

Better Off Dead is a comedy classic that retains as strong a following today as it did upon the date of its release. The combination of ironic humor and sight gags makes for a delightful combination, and its clean-cut approach ensures this PG film is suitable for the entire family, unlike many teen comedies.

Chances are high that you've already watched this movie if you're a fan of 80's cinema, but if by chance you haven't then I would strongly recommend you do so when you're in the mood for a lighthearted 90 minutes of fun.

Movie rating: 8 stars

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