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Better off Dead
Savage Steve Holland is one of the busiest producer/director/writer/animators in the business with a wicked sense of humor and imagination to spare. He made an impressive debut as director and screenwriter of an original comic farce called Better off Dead which also put its young star on the map.
This brassy comic nightmare stars John Cusack as Lane Holland,a hyper-sensitive high schooler who loves to ski and is madly in love with a girl named Beth (Amanda Wyss), who dumps him as the story opens, but Lane does connect with a foreign exchange student named Monique (Diane Franklin) who lives across the street with a chubby nerd (Dan Schneider) and his domineering mother. Lane is also dealing with his nutty parents (David Ogden Stiers, Kim Darby). Dad is worried about the car Lane bought two years ago and is sitting comatose on the front lawn and Mom is coming up with crazy concoctions in the kitchen, including a dessert that is able to walk off the plate. Oh, and Lane is also being stalked by a psychotic paperboy who is determined to get the two dollars that Lane's family owes him.
If you're looking for a film comedy steeped in realism, you've come to the wrong place. From Holland's crazed animated opening credits, we know immediately that we are not in for the typical 80's teen comedy. There's a scene where Lane is doodling a picture of Beth that comes to life and ridicules him. During his one-day employment at a fast food employment, Lane makes a hamburger that comes to life and sings rock and roll. Lane's mother is observed cooking something on the stove that seems to resemble disassembled pieces of octopus. I also loved the bit of everyone in town, strangers and television characters included, asking Lane if it was all right for them to date Beth since she dumped him. There's also an Asian sportscaster who follows Lane around who sounds exactly like Howard Cosell.
Savage Steve Holland just throws out the rule book of movie making here and makes no apologies for it.
This was only the fifth film appearance of John Cusack but you would never know it from the ease and charm with which he commands the screen here. Cusack proved here that he had what it takes to be a movie star. Ogden Stiers and Darby also score as his parents as does a pre-"Booger" Curtis Armstrong as Lane's BFF who wears an Abe Lincoln hat for the entire running time. Vincent Schiavelli plays another popular school teacher just like he did in Fast Times at Ridgemont High and another Fast Times alum, the late Taylor Negron who played the pizza delivery guy in that film, appears briefly here as a wise-cracking mailman. It ain't Merchant/Ivory, but Savage Steve Holland and his crazy rep company definitely bring the funny.
Savage Steve Holland is one of the busiest producer/director/writer/animators in the business with a wicked sense of humor and imagination to spare. He made an impressive debut as director and screenwriter of an original comic farce called Better off Dead which also put its young star on the map.
This brassy comic nightmare stars John Cusack as Lane Holland,a hyper-sensitive high schooler who loves to ski and is madly in love with a girl named Beth (Amanda Wyss), who dumps him as the story opens, but Lane does connect with a foreign exchange student named Monique (Diane Franklin) who lives across the street with a chubby nerd (Dan Schneider) and his domineering mother. Lane is also dealing with his nutty parents (David Ogden Stiers, Kim Darby). Dad is worried about the car Lane bought two years ago and is sitting comatose on the front lawn and Mom is coming up with crazy concoctions in the kitchen, including a dessert that is able to walk off the plate. Oh, and Lane is also being stalked by a psychotic paperboy who is determined to get the two dollars that Lane's family owes him.
If you're looking for a film comedy steeped in realism, you've come to the wrong place. From Holland's crazed animated opening credits, we know immediately that we are not in for the typical 80's teen comedy. There's a scene where Lane is doodling a picture of Beth that comes to life and ridicules him. During his one-day employment at a fast food employment, Lane makes a hamburger that comes to life and sings rock and roll. Lane's mother is observed cooking something on the stove that seems to resemble disassembled pieces of octopus. I also loved the bit of everyone in town, strangers and television characters included, asking Lane if it was all right for them to date Beth since she dumped him. There's also an Asian sportscaster who follows Lane around who sounds exactly like Howard Cosell.
Savage Steve Holland just throws out the rule book of movie making here and makes no apologies for it.
This was only the fifth film appearance of John Cusack but you would never know it from the ease and charm with which he commands the screen here. Cusack proved here that he had what it takes to be a movie star. Ogden Stiers and Darby also score as his parents as does a pre-"Booger" Curtis Armstrong as Lane's BFF who wears an Abe Lincoln hat for the entire running time. Vincent Schiavelli plays another popular school teacher just like he did in Fast Times at Ridgemont High and another Fast Times alum, the late Taylor Negron who played the pizza delivery guy in that film, appears briefly here as a wise-cracking mailman. It ain't Merchant/Ivory, but Savage Steve Holland and his crazy rep company definitely bring the funny.