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''[[Better Off Dead]]'' is a 1985 comedy film directed by [[Savage Steve Holland]] and starring [[John Cusack]].
 
After being dumped by his utterly-unfaithful girlfriend Beth, luckless teen Lane Meyer makes several futile attempts to kill himself, while wandering in and out of a series of encounters with the <s>inmates</s> residents of his bizarre hometown. These include his super-genius younger brother Badger, his severely-underachieving best friend Charles, a pair of Korean car-racing enthusiasts who learned English by watching Howard Cosell, and one ''very'' determined paper-boy. Lane's life finally begins to turn around when he meets Monique, a comely French exchange student who has been sentenced to live with Lane's grotesque neighbors.
 
Probably doesn't ''quite'' make it to classic status, especially the ending which {{spoiler|veers off into painfully straight teen-movie win-the-athletic-competition territory}}, but mentioning this film or quoting from it is very likely to bring a smile to the face of Tropers of a certain age. It does have a pretty strong cult following due to the fact that aside from that ending, it has a very different sense of humor from most 80s teen comedies and seems far less dated than other films of its type.
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* [[Braces of Orthodontic Overkill]]: Lane's unfortunate but practical blind-date.
* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: In-universe example: Barney Rubble of ''[[The Flintstones]]'' interrupts a broadcast to ask Lane if he can date Beth.
* [[Bungled Suicide]]: Several -- it's one of the film's [[Running Gag|Running Gags]]s.
{{quote|'''Lane:''' ''Gee, I'm real sorry your mom blew up, Ricky.''}}
* [[Burger Fool]]: Lane has to wear a hideous pig-themed hat, even though he works back in the kitchen.
* [[Cameo]]: Twiki from ''[[Buck Rogers in the 25th Century]]'' appears in the background of the Christmas scene.
* [[Claymation]]: A brief sequence set in the burger joint where Lane works.
* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Lane's mother Jenny.
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* [[Evil Genius]]: Badger possibly qualifies.
* [[Funny Foreigner]]: [[Foreign Exchange Student|Monique]] mostly avoids this, except {{spoiler|for one or two ''slight'' problems with English.}}
* [[Hey, It's That Guy!]]: [[MASH|Charles Emerson Winchester]] is Lane's father. [[True Grit|Mattie Ross]] is his mother. His best bud Charles is [[Revenge of the Nerds|Dudley Dawson]]!
** Vincent Schiavelli as his math teacher, and didn't that truck driver own a [[Porky's|strip joint]] near Angel Beach?
* [[Hey, It's That Voice!]]: [[Powerpuff Girls|Buttercup]] is singing at the dance.
** Subversion: [[Rich Little]] as the voice of the Korean guy who learned to speak English from [[Howard Cosell]].
* [[Homemade Sweater From Hell]]: Jenny wears a reindeer outfit which comes complete with an antler-headpiece, and gives one to her husband which is aardvark-themed.
* [[I Need to Go Iron My Dog]]: Lane ditching the paperboy.
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* [[Interrupted Suicide]]
* [[It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY"]]: Lane's mother serves Monique "Frahnch Fries", etc.
* [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy]]: Of course, {{spoiler|Lane comes to his senses in time.}}
* [[Jerk Jock]]: The villain, such as he is.
** His name? ''Roy Stalin''.
* [[Language of Love]]: Subverted, when {{spoiler|it turns out that Monique speaks English fairly fluently.}}
** Invoked by name by Ricky's mother, to Monique's utter disgust.
* [[Lethal Chef]]: Hoo boy. Jenny. Lane pokes one of her creations with his fork, and it ''starts moving away''.
{{quote|"It's got raisins in it. You ''like'' raisins."}}
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* [[Medium Shift Gag]]: There are a couple of gag sequences in both clay and hand-drawn animation, representing Lane's bizarre daydreams about dancing hamburgers and so forth.
* [[My Beloved Smother]]: Ricky's harridan of a mother.
* [[My Girl Is Not a Slut]]: After the break-up, every guy from the [[One-Scene Wonder|math teacher]] to the rude mailman to [[The Flintstones|Barney Rubble]] is asking Lane if it would be alrightall right to date his ex.
* [[Naked Freak-Out]]: The roller-skating cheerleader in the cafeteria in her underwear, due to Lane's accidental slip-up. [[It Gets Worse]] as {{spoiler|''all'' of her boyfriends give him a [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]]}}.
* [[Obstacle Ski Course]]: The ski-off with Roy at the climax of the film turns into one.
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** Badger's mail-order purchases
** The garage door window's getting broken.
* [[Spiritual Successor]]: John Cusack recently traveled back in time to a 1980s ski resort in ''[[Hot Tub Time Machine]]''. Somebody is even heard shouting "I want my two dollars!" at one point.
** This is despite the fact that Cusack evidently considers this film to be an [[Old Shame]].
** Cusack's protagonist in ''[[Grosse Pointe Blank]]'' also grew up in the 1980s and also had a [[Hilariously Abusive Childhood]]. He ended up becoming a [[Hitman with a Heart|professional assassin]]. We first meet him {{spoiler|shooting a bicycle deliveryman.}}
* [[Stalker Shrine]]: Lane has turned his room into one of these, dedicated to his girlfriend.
* [[Standard Snippet]]: Muddy Waters' "Mannish Boy" as Lane's Camaro rolls out for the first time. Gene Autry's "Here Comes Santa Claus" during the Christmas sequence.
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[[Category:Films of the 1980s]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Cult Classic]]
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