Better Off Dead...

John Cusack's girlfriend has just dumped him for the biggest jerk in school, and John deals with the depression, anger, and frustration in humorous ways. Slowly, he finds himself bonding with French exchange student Diane Franklin, a beautiful and clever young woman, that helps to build up Cusack's self-image so he can win his girlfriend back.

Better Off Dead follows a familiar basic storyline. Main likeable character is dealt a bad hand in life, pulls themselves up by their bootstraps, and ends up triumphing over the people who pushed them down. This formula led to such films as "Animal House", "Revenge of the Nerds", and "Porky's". Not that these films are bad, they are just similar in basic plot.

Better Off Dead however, adds a bizarre surreal quality unaccomplished by these other films. Perhaps this is due to the claymation hamburger sequence, or the unlikely skiing competition at the end of the film.

Or perhaps it's due to the parade of familiar faces from other 80's films. John Cusack's best friend is none other than Curtis Armstrong, best known as "Booger" in the Revenge of the Nerds movies. Next door neighbor and consummate slob Dan Schneider is recognizable as "Dennis" from the TV show "Head of the Class". Cusack's boss at the fast food joint is played by Chuck Wallace, the title character from "Porky's". And with a bit part, yet one the funniest in the whole film, Yano Anaya reprises his "Grover Dill" persona from "A Christmas Story" in the form of a vengeful paperboy. I WANT MY TWO DOLLARS!!!!

Also has some of the funniest lines in 80's teen comedy, such as Franklin's accidental misuse of the word "testicles", and the comment made by an onlooker when Cusack tumbles into a trash truck.

Definitely better than the majority of 1980's teen comedies.

The teenager Lane Meyer (John Cusack) has a crush on his girlfriend Beth Truss (Amanda Wyss). When Beth dumps him to stay with the successful skier Roy Stalin (Aaron Dozier), Lane is depressed and decides to commit suicide. However he gives up and tries to improve his skill of skier to ski the dangerous K12 slope to impress Beth. Meanwhile his neighbor Mrs. Smith (Laura Waterbury) receives the exchange French student Monique Junot (Diane Franklin) and her fat son Ricky Smith (Daniel Schneider) considers Monique his girlfriend; however, Monique has an unrequited crush on Lane that does not note her. When Lane stumbles upon Monique in a high-school party, he befriends her. The upset Lane challenges Roy in a competition on the K12 slope but then he regrets. However Monique is a great mechanic and skier, and fix Lane's Camaro and teaches him how to ski the K12 slope. What will happen to Lane?

"Better off Dead" is a cute romantic comedy even thirty-one years later. The story is funny and there are hilarious situations. Further this film has not aged and entertains. Maybe the greatest difference is that in the viewer that enjoyed this cult-movie in 1985 now is able to understand much more Lane's father attitudes. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Minha Vida é um Desastre" ("My Life Is a Disaster")

Better Off Dead is a childhood favorite that I still enjoy as an adult. Yes, the filmmaking is a little amateurish, but that's part of the charm. This movie has so many quotable quotes ("I want my two dollars!" "Gee, I'm really sorry your mom blew up, Ricky.") and moments that make me smirk. I don't think they'd ever make a movie like this these days, so I'm glad they did in the 80s.

Savage Steve Holland, who went on to create the insanely wonderful Saturday morning cartoon series Eek! the Cat, combined two 80s genres - John Hughes romantic comedies and gag-a-second movies like Airplane! to create one of the more unusual teen comedies of the 80s.

The movie stars John Cusack as a jilted teen pining for his ex while oblivious to the absurdly perfect girl across the street, the two girls falling into the classic 80s stereotypes of the cold blonde and the magical, quirky brunette.

Cusack is more emotionally unstable than a Hughes protagonist, spending much of the movie in inept attempts to kill himself.

He also has to deal with living in an insane world. His mom makes weird gloppy dishes that crawl away on their own power, a newspaper boy seems to be the beta version of the Terminator, Cusack's best friend snorts all his food. The movie is frequently hilarious, resulting in a minor classic.

This one's hilarious! My family have borrowed several lines from this film and use them as inside jokes. John Cusak stars in this film about a teenager whose girlfriend dumps him for the Captain of the ski team. The film has enough skiing in it to satisfy most ski buffs, but it's not really about skiing. It's about relationships more than anything and the results are absolutely hilarious. This is destined to be a classic and it's a permanent part of my film library.