Cult Classic Review- Better Off Dead

Here is one of my favorite movies and it is a cult classic. I want to give my review of this movie that is loaded with movie quotes. This movie come back from my favorite decade- The Big 80's.

This movie starred a little known teenage actor at the time, who is now a big star. Before this movie this teen was most know for his minor role as a tech geek in the hit movie "16 Candles". It was John Cusack.

In this movie we know him as Lane Meyer. He is a teenager that is over infatuated with his girlfriend. When she breaks up with him for the idiot Ski Captain, Lane decides that he would be better off dead than to live without her. He attempts to kill himself several times but each time it fails miserably. My favorite is the attempt to throw himself off of the bridge.

This movie is so 80's that it in itself is very funny. It gives you some insights to teens during the Big 80's (Yes I was one of them). Many have compared it to "Ferris Buellers Day Off". It is very similar in some ways but the comedy styles are very different.

This movie is extremely high on the slap stick comedy. It relies on sight gags and good comedic timing. It is a side splitting roller coaster of laughs. If you like slap stick comedy (or as my wife calls it "Stupid Movies") then you should watch this movie or re-watch it for the 100th time.

Here are some of the most memorial quotes.

Johnny Gasparini (Paper Boy): "Two dollars! Two dollars!"

Lane Myer: Gee, I'm real sorry your mom blew up, Ricky.

Tree Trimmer: Now that's a real shame when folks be throwin' away a perfectly good white boy like that.

Charles De Mar: I've been going to this high school for seven and a half years. I'm no dummy. I know high school girls.

Monique Junot (French Exchange student): He keeps putting his testicles all over me.
Lane Myer: Excuse me?
Monique Junot: You know, like octopus? Testicles?
Lane Myer: Ohhhh. Tentacles. N-T.

Lane Myer: Sorry Johnny, I don't have a dime.
Johnny: Didn't ask for a dime. Two dollars.
Lane Myer: My little brother got his arm stuck in the microwave. So my mom had to take him to the hospital. My grandma dropped acid this morning, and she freaked out. She hijacked a busload of penguins. So it's sort of a family crisis. Bye!

Lane Myer: Two brothers... One speaks no English, the other learned English from watch "The Wide World of Sports." So you tell me... Which is better, speaking no English at all, or speaking Howard Cosell?

Mailman: What's a little boy like you doing with big boy smut like this?

Charles De Mar: And dying when you're not really sick is really sick, you know. Really!

Charles De Mar: [giving skiing instructions] Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn.

Charles De Mar: You ski the K-12 dude, and girls will go sterile just looking at you!

Lane Myer: She only speaks French, Roy. She doesn't speak imbecile.

Lane Myer: I have great fear of tools. I once made a birdhouse in woodshop and the fair housing committee condemned it. I can't.
Monique Junot: "I cannot do it" is your middle name.