07 February 2008

Better off Dead

Someone brought in a copy of the 1985 film Better off Dead to work the other day.

I love this film for many reasons, but to me this film really represents where my humor comes from.

Written and directed by Savage Steve Holland, Better off Dead stars a very young looking John Cusack as high school student Lane Meyer. After being dumped by his girlfriend for the arrogant and bullying captain of the high school ski team, Lane cannot get past the rejection and decides ending his life will be better for him.

A little gloomy, but his attempts are really only half-hearted and usually end in a very comedic way, like the classic scene where he ends up in a garbage truck Two black men trimming trees see him in the garbage truck and one says "Man, that's a real shame when folks be throwin' away a perfectly good white boy like that."

Then there his family. Mom, played by Kim Darby as a qausi-Stepford type wife, cannot cook, though she tries, a brother who appears to be a genius because he can build laser guns, rockets and pick-up trashy women. His father, played by David Ogden Stiers, is obsessed with the paperboy, who has managed to break every window on the garage door.

Yes, then there is the paperboy. One of the best running gags through the film is the paperboy trying to collect his $2 from Lane.

BOD has so many jokes, so many non-sequiturs that you have to watch the movie again. While not as good, as say Airplane, it still one of the better anti-John Hughes films of the 1980's.

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