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Better Off Dead... (1985)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writer:
Savage Steve Holland (writer)
Release Date:
11 October 1985 (USA)
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Tagline:
You've blown up your neighbor's mom. Your seven-year-old brother has better luck with women than you do. Your girlfriend has a new boyfriend. Relax, you're never... more
Plot:
A teenager has to deal with his girlfriend dumping him among family crises, homicidal paper boys, and a rival skier. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
NewsDesk:
(11 articles)
Say Anything 20th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray Review
(From Collider.com. 18 November 2009, 8:27 PM, PST)
Total Recall: John Cusack's Best Movies
(From Rotten Tomatoes. 10 November 2009, 5:40 AM, PST)
(From Collider.com. 18 November 2009, 8:27 PM, PST)
Total Recall: John Cusack's Best Movies
(From Rotten Tomatoes. 10 November 2009, 5:40 AM, PST)
User Comments:
A teenager with a death wish.
more (151 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| John Cusack | ... | Lane Meyer | |
| David Ogden Stiers | ... | Al Meyer | |
| Kim Darby | ... | Jenny Meyer | |
| Demian Slade | ... | Johnny Gasparini | |
| Scooter Stevens | ... | Badger Meyer | |
| Diane Franklin | ... | Monique Junot | |
| Laura Waterbury | ... | Mrs. Smith | |
| Dan Schneider | ... | Ricky Smith (as Daniel Schneider) | |
| Yuji Okumoto | ... | Yee Sook Ree | |
| Brian Imada | ... | Chen Ree | |
| Chuck Mitchell | ... | Rocko | |
| Amanda Wyss | ... | Beth Truss | |
| Curtis Armstrong | ... | Charles De Mar | |
| Aaron Dozier | ... | Roy Stalin | |
| Frank Burt Avalon | ... | Roy's Ski Buddy #1 |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
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Runtime:
97 min
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Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
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Fun Stuff
Trivia:
When Beth (Amanda Wyss) shows up at the high school dance, the person standing behind her is wearing Freddy Krueger's sweater. Wyss played Krueger's first victim in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
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Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: When Lane is getting ready for his date with Joanne Greenwald and he starts spraying deodorant, as he lowers the can below the bottom of the mirror, you can see two streams of deodorant. The smaller is from the can Lane is holding, and the huge one is from something out of the sight of the camera.
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Quotes:
Charles De Mar:
The K-12 dude. You make a gnarly run like that and girls will get sterile just looking at you.
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Movie Connections:
Spoofed in "Family Guy: I Take Thee, Quagmire (#4.21)" (2006)
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Soundtrack:
Like To Get To Know You Well
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Eighties teen films, I love 'em. I never tire of this brand of entertainment that's a true product of it pop-culture times. There's something about this wonderful era. Everything about the humour had a natural build up, and even during the hits or misses it stayed consistently amusing without resorting to gross-outs. 'Better off Dead' fits that buck. Here's another cherished coming of age story through the eyes of a troubled teenager dealing with a dumped relationship and the embarrassments that seem to follow through the painful years of high school and everyday life. Wallowing in self-pity, eventually it comes to identifying self-confidence over what isn't the impossible. What am I going to type that someone hasn't already. Nothing. The plot is secondary to the oddball episodic set-pieces and comic characters, where the flow is unpredictable and original like out of some daydreaming teenager's imagination. John Cusack (a pin-up boy for these roles) has that likable, down-to-earth awe which fits. Surrounding him is a fantastically hearty support cast in David Ogden Stiers, Kim Darby, Diane Franklin, Demian Slade, Amanda Wyss, Curtis Armstrong, Dan Schneider and Laura Waterbury. Director Savage Steve Holland throws caution to the wind with his animatedly interesting style, but manages to make sure everything still comes together without really trying. Well it looks so. Visual gags also have a powerful note like the night-time chase sequence involving a persistent paperboy after his 2 dollars and the drag racing scenes with a pair of Asians. Even the ski scenes are well shot. An upbeat soundtrack pounds out the catchy, nostalgic tunes and cements an provocatively charming sincereness. It's hard to pass up this self-knowing, off-kilter teenage comedy/romance winner.