Better Off Dead is a 1985 comedy film, written and directed by Savage Steve Holland . It starred John Cusack, David Ogden Stiers, Diane Franklin , Curtis Armstrong, Amanda Wyss , and Kim Darby . Holland had two other films: 1986's One Crazy Summer and 1989's How I Got Into College.

Better Off Dead is a shining example of the 80's teenage comedy, along the same lines as Sixteen Candles and Adventures in Babysitting. The movie takes place in a fictional northern California town called Greendale and centers on high-school skier and sax-player Lane Myer (John Cusack), whose girlfriend Beth (played by Amanda Wyss ) dumps him for the captain of the high school ski team, Roy Stalin. Lane cannot get past this rejection and decides that the only way out of his misery is through suicide, hence the title. His half-hearted attempts always manage to leave him alive, with comedic consequences. One of the most endearing aspects of this movie is the entertaining ensemble of characters which includes Lane's wacky family, a best friend who uses everyday substances as drugs, two Japanese guys (one of whom speaks no English and the other who only speaks Howard Cosell) that repeatedly try to get Lane into a drag race, a repulsive Pig Burger manager with a bad temper, an annoying obese neighbor who crochets and snorts nasal spray, and the French foreign exchange student named Monique (played by Diane Franklin ), who is staying with them. Monique turns out to be a Brooklyn Dodgers fan who pretends not to speak English, helps Lane fix up his 1967 Camaro, and rekindles Lane's confidence and will to live through "language lessons" in the international language of love.

In the climactic scene involving a ski competition against the ski jock Roy Stalin, a treacherous slope called the K-12, a persistent paper boy who wants his two dollars, and Lane racing down the mountain on one ski he overcomes a life gone downhill to find happiness.

External links

• Fan site