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BETTER OFF DEAD (1985)


I've often heard that this movie has a large cult following, so it's possible everyone here has already seen it. But there are few people that have not seen it and loved it, so it's worth a shot for the lone reader out there who is not yet a convert.

Starring a young John Cusack, Better Off Dead documents the life of Lane Meyers, his bizarre family, classmates, cute next-door neighbor, and a particularly irate paperboy. The main plot is basically that Lane has just been dumped by girlfriend Beth, discovers he can't win her back as she has moved on to the high school's local ski god, and decides to kill himself. His various attempts are continually thwarted by clueless parents, friends and bystanders, and the set-up is really just an excuse for a series of bizarre characters to engage in ridiculous random acts of hilarity.

How else to explain the mother who buys TV Dinners as all of your Christmas gifts? The father obsessed with saving his garage door windows? The little brother who never speaks, but builds rocket ships and has parties for hookers in his spare time? And that doesn't include the paperboy who chases Lane around town demanding his $2, the best friend who thinks snorting snow gets him high, the high school math class that laughs at rocket science level jokes, or the Asian brothers who like to drag race while one of them commentates in an impression of Howard Cosell.

Lane is the 0nly recognizably sane person in this movie, and along with Monique (the French foreign exchange student next door), whom he of course begins to fall for, we are treated to a sweetly beguiling performance. In Cusack's hands, Lane is awkward, confused and sensitive, but unafraid to weird out in his obsessions with Beth, a re-enactment of Frankenstein, and sticking Q-tips in all his facial orifices while preparing for a date. If nothing else, this movie is just one odd scene after another, but put together create an endearing sense of random affection. And if you love '80's movies in general (as I do - something about their look, tone, music, lack of technical gadgets) this is definitely a must-see.