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Title: Better Off Dead... (1985)
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| 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 Junet | |
| 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 |
The teenager Lane Meyer has a crush on his girlfriend Beth Truss. When Beth dumps him to stay with the successful skier Roy Stalin, Lane is depressed and decides to commit suicide. However he gives up and tries to improve his skill of skier to ski the dangerous K12 slope to impress Beth. Meanwhile his neighbor Mrs. Smith receives the exchange French student Monique Junot and her fat son Ricky Smith considers Monique his girlfriend; however, Monique has an unrequited crush on Lane that does not note her. When Lane stumbles upon Monique in a high-school party, he befriends her. The upset Lane challenges Roy in a competition on the K12 slope but then he regrets. However Monique is a great mechanic and skier, and fix Lane's Camaro and teaches him how to ski the K12 slope. What will happen to Lane? Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Better Off Dead is the zaniest movie that I think I have ever seen. Let's just recap what this movie has in it. We have a guy that attempts suicide but he can't even succeed at that. There is his best friend that declares that a mountain they are on in the dead of winter is pure snow, saying " Do you know what the street value of this is?" We have a father that is trying to speak the lingo of his kids and fails miserably and a mom that cooks food that literally slides off it's plate. We have a math class full of genius' that get upset when they don't have homework to do. Lane has a younger brother who orders books on how to pick up trashy women and learns how to build rockets. We have the entire male population ( and Barney Rubble ) that wants to go out with Lane's ex-girlfriend now that they are broken up. There is two Oriental guys that want to constantly race Lane and then broadcast it over the loud speaker on their car. There is Porky from the Porky's movies basically playing the same role here, dancing hamburgers, a basketball team that grunts and of course the most relentless paper boy in the history of paper delivery.
Whoooooooo! I'm out of breath. So why do I mention all of these things about the movie? Because all of these little issues combine to somehow make one of the funniest and zaniest movies you will ever see. Better Off Dead is so full of energy that there is enough material in here for ten movies. But Savage Steve Holland makes it work. Don't ask me how, but he does. I think I'm going to stop here because if you haven't seen this movie you have to see it now. This is a completely original film and it also one that no one will ever have the guts to make again. This is one hell of a film.