Now I can cross another classic teen 80’s movie off my list. For this, The Breakfast Club, and others, it was not as though I was actively trying not to see them. My younger days normally reserved for mostly harmless fare like this was instead spent watching 70’s and 80’s horror and action movies instead. Yes, I saw the entire franchises of Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and even Maniac Cop before getting around to some of the more relatable films of my generation. So sue me. I now have seen it.
I would imagine that everyone else has seen Better Off Dead so I will keep the synopsis short. Lane Meyer is for the most part a typical adolescent. He has really random daydreams, a crazy family, and a typical teen’s awkwardness. After meeting Tina, err Beth, he seems to be on a straight path up the popularity ladder in high school. When she dumps him for a 23-year-old-looking-professional-skier-turned-high-school-student, Lane is downtrodden enough that he attempts to kill himself. Fortunately for Lane, he is quite bad at offing himself even with the help of his friends and family. This leads to a turn in his luck, meeting an exchange student, getting a kick-ass car, beating the cocky jock at his own game, and redeeming his meaningless life. It’s every kid’s fantasy.
Apparently, this film was not very well received when it debuted. From a low box office take to negative reviews back in the day, it has now become an iconic teen movie much like the aforementioned Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Even having never seen the film before, I was still aware of its presence and even its influence in subsequent films like the recent Hot Tub Time Machine and the spoof Not Another Teen Movie. I can fully agree with the current sentiment that this is a masterpiece of a film. Instead of deriving comedy from standard teenage film means, Better Off Dead takes a more absurdist approach to everyday living. This is the kind of life that you thought you had in retrospect with a gelatinous pile of crap crawling off your dinner plate, the teacher you hated taking out your ex, and getting your face inverted by embarrassing a popular cheerleader. I can safely say none of these things happened to me as a child but I would probably want to kill myself as well if they had. Other than the basic plot I did not know that the film’s title actually referenced the character’s desire to commit suicide. It seems a rather odd plot point and one I hazard would not find its way into a mainstream teen movie today.
Even twenty years ago, John Cusack can play comedy very well. Just like his character in Hot Tub, Lane is the relatively normal kid in abnormal situations of course disregarding the fact that he is almost dangerously obsessed with Beth, has clear suicidal tendencies, and wears socks in the shower. There is a rumor/fact/whatever that Cusack hates this movie which I find deplorable if that is the case. His straight-forwardness to the events unfolding is quite brilliant especially as the other central members of the cast excel in selling the abundance of crazy shit that happens. And this movie even has Dan Schneider, creator of TV’s iCarly! I do not think I can look at that show the same after seeing the nasal spray-snorting Ricky.
It just seems shocking that this film was never not regarded as a masterpiece. Sure, it is yet another teenage based movie from a time overflowing with them but the wackiness of this makes it stand out. Where else can you get Booger getting “high” off of frozen rain, a pair of sports-loving drag racing brothers, and a tireless paperboy who will go to any length to get his damn two dollars? I wish the DVD was a bit more in-depth with special features but it seems that for as high that fans hold this movie, Paramount has bought into disregarding the film along with Cusack. It’s quite sad but it was a good day for me to finally get to this one.
