John Cusack, David Ogden Stiers, Demian Slade
A teenager has to deal with his girlfriend dumping him among family crises, homicidal paper boys, and a rival skier.
DVD Release Date: July 16, 2002
Stats: 3,624 reviews
I'm either too old or too cranky (or both) to derive much pleasure from watching a barely pubescent John Cusack pursue a prototypical prom queen in a prototypical 80's angst film. This is basically Teen Wolf without the "wolf".
Thoroughly winning teen film about a young man who is dumped by his girlfriend. He then sets out to impress her in an attempt to win her back. Extremely inventive comedy has brilliant touches of surrealism that perfectly complement the story. All in all, a fairly predictable p...( read more)
THis movie had me laughing non stop, it just so crazy its so great!!!! Definite Classic
I thought this was going to be another predictable 80's romp (like a dude version of Sixteen Candles or something)...but it was SO much better.
It was as if someone from 2005 went back 20 years into the past to film an 80's movie, and because they're totally aware of the cliches...( read more)
I really really really enjoyed this.
"I once built a bird house, but it was condemned by the fair housing committee
My second favorite movie. It shows early in his career that he was great at comedy.
This movie is so much, it's the best comedy Cusack has ever made. Their is a predictability to the entire story, from the "ski-off" to the "romantic hookup", but it's funny enough you can forgive it those faults.
Silly comedy. It's almost a cartoon.
Tree Trimmer: [to fellow tree trimmer] Now that's a real shame when folks be throwin' away a perfectly good white boy like that.
One of the few teen comedies to stand shoulder to shoulder with John Hughes' back-catalogue, Better Off Dead is a weird hybrid of the teen genre, pulling in strange fantasy elements that were (unfortunately) reined in/diluted for the director's later movies.
This is one of the truly original teen comedies in a decade awash with them - using darker, more adult themes than many of it's peers to paint a more rounded picture of the times than one would first imagine.
Lane's suicide attempts (I've always thought to be an homage to Harold and Maude), although played for laughs, strike a serious chord for such a "zany" comedy, and the drug references of the uber-cool Charles De Mar kinda outstrip the weed in Johnson's shorts (although I am in NOOO way rating Better Off Dead above The Breakfast Club) make this movie the logical step between the candy floss teen movie and their grown up counter-parts (St.Elmo's Fire, Bright Lights Big City etc.) (MORE of this on my page, if you're interested)
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