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Aka: Better Off Dead
Lane Meyer is a depressed teen who looses his girlfriend Beth. This is her reason for the split; "Lane, I think it'd be in my best interest if I dated somebody more popular. Better looking. Drived a nicer car." Anyway, poor Lane is left alone and thinks up treacherous ways of killing himself. He finally meets a French beauty called Monique and falls for her. Simultaneously, he must endure his mothers terrible cooking which literally slides off the table, his disgusting next door neighbour Ricky (and his mum) and he must prepare for the skiing race of his life - to get his old girlfriend back!
Lane Myer's (John Cusack) dreams are shattered when his girlfriend Beth (Amanda Wyss) decides she prefers the company of a sleazy ski jock over his own. This disheartening news leads Lane to attempt to take his own life in various ways--all of which never seem to work out. But if he can beat Beth's new boyfriend in a ski run down the treacherous K-12, he may be able to win her back. Along the way, Lane also encounters a beautiful French exchange student, a nasal spray-snorting neighbor, a rabid newspaper boy, and dancing hamburgers. "Savage" Steve Holland (ONE CRAZY SUMMER) directs this 1985 cult favorite.
Most animation aficionados of the 1990s know "Savage Steve Holland" as the cocreator (with Bill Kopp) of the all-stops-out TV cartoon series Eek! The Cat. But Holland had been exercising his own peculiar brand of deviltry on live characters long before Eek! came into being. In Holland's Better Off Dead, John Cusack plays a lovestruck teenager, hopelessly enamored with Amanda Wyss. When she dumps him in favor of a more popular high-schooler, the boy's entire day quickly goes to Hell. In the words of Hamlet, all occasions do inform against Cusack: he is bullied, tormented and torn apart by everyone from the paperbo...
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y (who seemingly turns up everywhere) to the disembodied voice of a radio deejay. Cusack attempts suicide, but his efforts are just as unsuccessful-and amusing-as Bud Cort's in Harold and Maude. Meanwhile, French exchange student Diane Franklin, held a virtual prisoner by her host family, develops a long-distance crush on Cusack.
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Most animation aficionados of the 1990s know Savage Steve Holland as the cocreator (with Bill Kopp) of the all-stops-out TV cartoon series Eek! The Cat. But Holland had been exercising his own peculiar brand of deviltry on live characters long before Eek! came into being. In Holland's Better Off Dead, John Cusack plays a lovestruck teenager, hopelessly enamored with Amanda Wyss. When she dumps him in favor of a more popular high-schooler, the boy's entire day quickly goes to Hell. In the words of Hamlet, all occasions do inform against Cusack: he is bullied, tormented and torn apart by everyone from the paperboy ...
Read more
(who seemingly turns up everywhere) to the disembodied voice of a radio deejay. Cusack attempts suicide, but his efforts are just as unsuccessful-and amusing-as Bud Cort's in Harold and Maude. Meanwhile, French exchange student Diane Franklin, held a virtual prisoner by her host family, develops a long-distance crush on Cusack.~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Lane Myer is geobsedeerd door zijn vriendin Beth en zijn wereld stort in elkaar als ze verliefd wordt op Roy, de aanvoerder van het ski-team. Na meerdere zelfmoordpogingen, het overleven van meerdere teisteringen van de krantenbezorger en onuitstaanbare diners met familie, vindt hij een nieuwe liefde: een Franse studente genaamd Monique Junot. Ondertussen moet hij zijn naam hoog houden door Roy in elkaar te slaan.
Better Off Dead... News Articles
This Friday, Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles will hold the fifth Crazy 4 Cult art show, an annual exhibition which I've called the super bowl of pop culture art. I am so jealous of all my fellow Los Angelans who are able to attend this week. I'll be away in Texas, but I can't complain as I'll be brining back my girlfriend with me (the big move, exciting). The great guys at G1988 have given me a bunch of art from the show to premiere on the site. After the jump you will find part one of our preview, which includes a new Back to the Future -inspired piece by the great Eric Tan, Monster Squad and Better Off Dead pieces by /Film favorite Dave Perillo, an incredibly multi-level Scott Pilgrim vs. The World piece by Jim Horwat, Alex Pardee's tribute to a new cult classic, Rubber, and more. So what are you waiting for?
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