Better Off Dead (1985)

Directed by Savage Steve Holland. Starring John Cusack, Diane Franklin, David Ogden Stiers, Kim Darby, Curtis Armstrong, Amanda Wyss, Dan Schneider, Laura Waterbury, Scooter Stevens, Aaron Dozier, Chuck Mitchell, Demian Slade. [PG]

After getting dumped by his girlfriend, high schooler Lane (Cusack) falls into a funk where nothing much matters, and suicide is certainly an option. The subversive black comedy edge was handled much better in Harold and Maude (among others), but what really lifts this otherwise cookie-cutter teenager story are its loopy, even surreal flights of fancy, packing in some bizarre running jokes (a Korean drag racer who learned English by impersonating Howard Cosell, “Two dollars!” etc.), outrageous sight gags (Lane’s mom’s cooking, anyone?), and even a few hallucinations, such as a bit of stop-motion animation involving hamburgers that come to life. Cusack’s low-key charisma works in this environment, and the supporting cast is solid, too: Franklin is sweetly appealing as a foreign exchange student across the street, Stiers and Darby are appropriately clueless parents, and a number of the best lines are supplied by Lane’s buddy, Charles, played by Curtis Armstrong: “Lane, I’ve been going to this high school for seven-and-a-half years; I’m no dummy,” “Suicide is never the answer, little trooper,” “It’s Christmas Eve! I could be home right now drinking this monster eggnog my brother makes with lighter fluid,” etc. A little too loose and shaggy for its own good, and some bits flop (a roller-skating mishap in the cafeteria, for instance), but there are more than enough big laughs along the way to make it a relatively smooth ski run down K-12 (yes, the small suburban town the story takes place in is apparently adjacent to a towering mountain). Written by the director, Savage Steve Holland, a cartoonist/animator making his feature debut. Barely made a blip when first released, but developed a cult following on home video. Vincent Schiavelli, Taylor Negron, and E. G. Daily make appearances.

75/100