Better Off Dead

So, I'm about to post about an 80's movie with an 80's pop soundtrack while listening to Straight Tequila Night by John Anderson, so if my review's a bit off, my apologies....

Better Off Dead tells the story of one Lane Meyer (played by John Cussack), a painfully average teenager who suddenly discovers himself dumped by his girlfriend who's looking to climb the social ladder by hooking up with the captain of the ski team.

Lane's family is a little off. His mother is kind of a Martha Stewart on acid-type, who's always experimenting with new dishes. His father, is a middle-aged attorney who makes feeble, misguided attempts to connect with lane. His younger brother, Badger, is a mute who occupies his time building space shuttles and picking up on grown women.

The plot of the movie involves Lane's methods of dealing with the breakup, his attempts at joining the ski team, and his getting over his ex.

If you watch this, don't look for a plot. Lane is a typical, abeit overexaggerated,
teenager who habitually underperforms and over-reacts. He is aided by his best friend, the guy who played Booger in Revenge of the Nerds, and by a french foreign exchange student named Monique (played by Diane Franklin, one of the princesses in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure) who, grows on you as the film is played out. Monique's spunky spirit and gentle proddings eventually get Lane out of his depression.

I thought the cartoon sequences were dumb and the weird mom gag got a little old, but Booger had me rolling and the whole romance over time thing with Monique culminating in a date with cheesy music in the background really gets you. John Anderson and the effing loud thunderstorm outside may have tweaked this post a bit, but make no mistake, Better Off Dead is my number 2 for a very good reason. So order up a pizza, pop it in, and prepare to get transported back to simpler times my friends.............



I know it's pathetic, but I'm a huge sucker for the romance montages that are in most 80's movies. Here's the gay romance montage song from Better Off Dead...