Better Off Dead Movie Review: Once Underrated, Now a Cult Classic

Some people take Ambien to help them go to sleep. Some people take Sominex. My technique? Re-watch old movies on my iPad. This past week I finished one of my favorites, Better Off Dead, a vintage comedy from the 1980s. While this movie was panned by many critics when it first came out, over the years the film has achieved cult status among those who appreciate dark, quirky comedy.

One way to create a comic effect is to offer the unexpected. Better Off Dead does this in spades. In the YouTube clip below, for example, the reaction of the class to a geometry lesson is not expected. Anyone who has ever sat in a high school geometry class will not expect to see rapt expressions on the students' faces. The bit where the teacher asks students to take out their homework is especially 'unexpected'.

If the rest of this movie had been unexceptional, I think the classroom scene alone would have justified its cult status. However, the filmmaker keeps delivering.

He creates this comedic gem around the slimmest of plot lines: A teenager is depressed because he has been dumped by his girlfriend. It is the teenager's obsession that drives his actions, and the film.

Lane is the teenager. Beth is the girlfriend. The opening scene in Lane's bedroom sets the dynamic for the story.

https://www.reddit.com/r/yandere/comments/19225uc/cyrus_cinema_presents_better_off_dead_1985/

Shortly after this scene, Beth breaks up with Lane. Her breakup speech is short, and honest and unlike any I've heard in any movie before this. She states plainly, "I really think it's in my best interest if I went out with someone more popular. Better looking. Drives a nicer car."

Lane is devastated. He doesn't want to live. Hence the title of the film, Better Off Dead. However, this is a comedy, and even suicide is funny. Lane's aborted attempts at suicide become a recurrent theme in the film. As a depressed, low energy teen, Lane goes about suicide much in the way he handled his homework in the YouTube video at the top of this blog. There is not much planning and there is terrible execution.

Here's one attempt that doesn't work out too well (or, rather, it works out very well).

Recurrent themes are an important element in the film--almost like the clash of symbols in a symphony. The filmmaker has us trained to wait for these 'clashes'. There are, for example, the Japanese twins. Only one of these twins can speak English. Unfortunately this twin learned English by listening to Howard Cosell. Check out this clip:

Then there is the recurring 'symbol clash' of Lane's clueless mother, and her dreadful cooking. Here is a scene where she gives new meaning to the term 'boiled pork':

But if there is one thread, one resounding crescendo clash that has the value of crescendo, it is the paperboy. Introduced early in the story, almost as a demonic presence (at one point in the film a character refers to the boy as a 'thing' rather than a person), the paperboy takes us through the highs and lows of the film--even to the very end. Long after I first watched this movie the phrase, "Two Dollars"--representing the boy's unrelenting mission to collect on the paper bill--
would crack me up. Say those words to any confirmed fan of Better Off Dead and you are likely to receive a smile as reward. Here's a compilation of scenes in which the fiendish paper boy appears.

There is a secondary story line in the movie. An exchange student from France is held virtual prisoner by Lane's neighbor. Eventually, Lane and this student form an alliance that is beneficial to both. Of course, this relationship becomes romantic and allows Lane to leave behind his fascination with Beth.

Here is a scene where the neighbor and French student are guests in Lane's home. In this scene, Lane is apparently contemplating doing something unhealthy with paint primer. Absent minded, he carries the primer to the dinner table. The neighbor mistakes the liquid for a beverage.

Many secondary characters add memorably to the film. These include not only his mother and father, but also someone who appears on the screen for just a few moments. Here is the postman delivering mail:

The actor who plays the postman, Taylor Negron, was likely chosen for the role because of another brief but memorable appearance he made in the 80s classic, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. In that movie he plays a pizza delivery man. Watch the scene here:

It took me three nights to finish Better Off Dead. The movie put me to sleep quickly, so I had to pick it up where I left off on the following night.

Comedy is personal, and cultural. Why is something funny to me and not to someone else? Certainly, established movie critic didn't 'get' the film when it was released. Here, for example, are Siskel and Ebert panning Better Off Dead:

I don't see what they see, but I accept it. It's not a generational issue, because both men are of my generation (one is five years older, and the other is one year older).

Another reviewer, writing in the New York Times, offered this assessment:"...the film doesn't seem to have much of a focus. But it doesn't seem to want one, either. It simply piles on the jokes about suburban family life..." This reviewer is correct about one thing, I believe. He describes the humor as 'anarchic'. Maybe that's why I like it.

One of the most positive statements I can make about the film is that the humor has aged well. According to Screen Rant, the film has been "embraced" by contemporary audiences. It hit the top ten among subscribers on HBO this month. Most of the actors in the film are old now. The paper boy, played by Demian Slade, is 53. The postman, Taylor Negron, died some years ago. And yet, this movie is fresh, still surprising audiences.

If you want to catch the movie, it's streaming on HBO/MAX for subscribers. Other streaming services have it for rent or sale.

Credits:(from IMDB)
Release date: 1985

Director: Savage Steve Holland
Writer: Savage Steve Holland

Cast:
John Cusack: Lane Meyer
David Ogden Stiers: Al Meyer (Father)
Kim Darby: Jenny Meyer (Mother)
Curtis Armstrong: Charles de Mar