Grade: B
Synopsis: After his girlfriend dumps him for the captain of the ski team, a teenager (John Cusack) tries to win her back.
Better Off Dead… is a spot-on black comedy that ages better than most of its contemporaries.
Writer/director Savage Steve Holland (yes, that’s his real name) creates the perfect blend of teen angst, satire, black comedy, and outright absurdity while hitting the casting lottery with John Cusack, who plays the ideal straight man to Holland’s insanity.
And that’s why, even after 23 years, the movie works so well. Cusack’s low-key straight-faced performance is genuine enough to remind us all of the pain of our teenage years, but distant enough to allow us to laugh at it. Between his clueless parents, impossibly successful little brother, and a persistent paperboy, Cusack’s got it rough. Yet, that’s exactly how we remember our teenage years: so much drama.
The film’s not perfect. It can drag at times, as though Holland is catching his breath between bits, Amanda Wyss, who plays the object of Cusack’s character’s affections, doesn’t register, and the whole climactic ski scene is pretty flat, but none of these flaws detract too much from what is otherwise a fun movie with a lot of replay value.
