Better Off Dead
After his girlfriend (Amanda Wyss) ditches him for a boorish ski jock, Lane (John Cusack) decides that suicide is the only answer. However, his increasingly inept attempts bring him only more agony and embarrassment. Filled with the wildest teen nightmares, a family you can't help but identify with and a host of wonderful comic characters, Savage Steve Holland's writing/directorial debut is a masterful look at those painfully funny teen years.
Member Reviews
Funny! - brentb
This is a great movie to have around for those nights when you really don't want to think about how it is, but would rather think about how it was. 143 people can't be wrong. John Cusak might be the most easily identified with actor of my generation, (with apologies to Jon Cryer, who makes a good race out of it.) The first time I saw it in the cheap local theater I almost suffered an incontinent moment when Layne (Lane?) uttered, "Gee, I'm sorry your mom blew up, Ricky." It's lines like that, scenes like David Ogden Stiers in the reindeer head coat, and the only known soundtrack appearance of Van Halen's "Everybody Wants Some" that make me go back for this one again and againCan it Get Any Worse? - c4th
Can it get any worse than this? The attempts at humour run the gambit from prop and costume humour to animated day dream scenes. The plot in Better Off Dead never gets a chance to advance with writing more interested in building its humour around tiresome clichés. The entire movie played like bad skit comedy variety written by teenagers for teenagers. I fully expected some character to get covered in slime falling from above but writers at least spared us that.
It was easy to spot the humour in this piece and therein laid the problem. All you did was spot it. None of the tiresome clichés actually make you laugh. There is just nothing fresh or unique in this movie and its stale attempts at juvenile humour were easier to spot then markings on a Holstein cow.
The only explanation I have for the numerous favourable reviews on this movie is the fact that it was the debut movie for Savage Steve Holland which may give it some cult significance.Better Off Dead - Dina
So many gags and lame jokes that I'm not surprised at all that this was right up my husband's alley, the King of Lame Jokes. So, as we were watching this together he was laughing his head off and I was only mildly amused. It wasn't a total flop, but the acting was middle of the bar (maybe it was the best they could do with these parts) and the humour wasn't my style. That being said, I think my husband would rate it a five for the humour alone. He knows it's lame, but (what can I say) the King likes it that way.
Member Reviews
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Funny! - brentb
This is a great movie to have around for those nights when you really don't want to think about how it is, but would rather think about how it was. 143 people can't be wrong. John Cusak might be the most easily identified with actor of my generation, (with ...Can it Get Any Worse? - c4th
Can it get any worse than this? The attempts at humour run the gambit from prop and costume humour to animated day dream scenes. The plot in Better Off Dead never gets a chance to advance with writing more interested in building its humour around tiresome ...Better Off Dead - Dina
So many gags and lame jokes that I'm not surprised at all that this was right up my husband's alley, the King of Lame Jokes. So, as we were watching this together he was laughing his head off and I was only mildly amused. It wasn't a total flop, but the acting ...