Better Off Dead (1985)

Since I am on a John Cusack roll, I thought that I would review one of his first films.

High School student Lane Meyer (Cusack), considers suicide after his girlfriend breaks up with him for the captain of the high school ski team. He spends most of the movie trying to win her back. There is an interesting cast of quirky characters including his strange homemaker mother, a father who is convinced that Lane is on drugs and a genius little brother who spends his time building laser guns and reading books about how to pick up trashy women. Other characters include the wacky neighbors across the street who have basically imprisoned their French foreign exchange student, a couple of race car driving Korean brothers who have learned to speak English by listening to Howard Cosell and a paperboy who REALLY wants his two dollar payment.

This is Cusack quirkiness in all it's 80's glory. Keep that in mind if you decide to watch it. The soundtrack is cheesy 80's, but it is a fun movie.

I give this film THREE STARS.

97 Minutes long. Rated PG.





Other Cusack movies around the same time period to check out are "The Sure Thing" with Daphne Zuniga and "Say Anything" which is a personal favorite. One of his first movies that went past the "teentype" is "The Grifters" in which he plays a con-man with co-stars Angelica Huston and Annette Bening.