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Better Off Dead [DVD]

John Cusack (Actor), David Ogden Stiers (Actor), Savage Steve Holland (Director) | Rated: Suitable for 15 years and over | Format: DVD
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Actors: John Cusack, David Ogden Stiers, Kim Darby, Demian Slade, Scooter Stevens
  • Directors: Savage Steve Holland
  • Writers: Savage Steve Holland
  • Producers: Andrew Meyer, Gil Friesen, Michael Jaffe, William Strom
  • Format: PAL
  • Language: English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment (UK)
  • DVD Release Date: 2 Feb 2004
  • Run Time: 93 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B0000C88KA
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 32,000 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)

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Reviews

From Amazon.co.uk

In Better off Dead, Lane Myer (John Cusack) is stuck in a personal hell. A compulsive adolescent everyman growing up in Suburbia, USA; not only does he fail to make the prestigious high-school ski team (again), but his beloved sweetheart, Beth, also leaves him for Roy, the team's popular arrogant captain. If this isn't bad enough, he's stuck with a mother who frighteningly experiments--rather than cooks--with food, a brother who builds rockets out of models, and a best friend so desperate for drugs that he settles for snorting powdered snow. Faced with these prospects, Lane opts to end it all... until he comes up with a ridiculous plan to gain acceptance and win Beth back.

Director Savage Steve Holland warps this simple, clichéd premise, letting his wacky imagination twist it into a fairly original, slightly dark, and completely hilarious 80s teen comedy. Not as serious a "suicide-attempt" movie as, say, Harold and Maude but just as funny, the film is more a collection of screwball sketches than a narrative. Holland enlivens the high jinks with surrealistic fantasy touches, including Jell-O that crawls, a hamburger that sings Van Halen, drawings that mock its creator, and a psychotic paperboy seeking blood over a missing two dollars. Cusack puts the whole thing on his shoulders and carries the insanity with another one of his touching, obsessively romantic performances, which along with Say Anything, The Sure Thing and One Crazy Summer, made him the quintessential (and appealing) personification of lovestruck adolescence and suffering. --Dave McCoy

Product Description

John Cusack and David Ogden Stiers star in this teen comedy which was the debut for writer-director Savage Steve Holland and features a 'Claymation' sequence by Jimmy Picker. A young man becomes despondent when he loses his girlfriend to the captain of a ski team and decides to win her back by challenging his rival to a downhill race.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Cracking... 23 Jan 2004
By A Customer
Format:DVD
Long out of print and unavailable, this film seems to have recently popped up on Region 1 DVD, and it's worth getting a multi-region player for! Other reviewers have told you about the plot and some of the gags, but BUY THIS now and watch out for the little brother, the postman (one of the funniest things I've ever witnessed on screen is that quick shot of postie approaching the front door), the classroom scenes with the overeager students and, of course, the evil paperboy who 'wants his two dollars'. It is gag driven, highly visual, truly funny and an underrated classic cult film, deftly played and directed. It's Ferris Bueller with a touch of surrealism and more belly laughs than cerebral. Love it as I have since I first saw it on video in the '80s.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars nostalgia 16 Jan 2004
By "cscory_90"
Format:DVD
a classic early performance from one of hollywoods leading actors, cusack plays a heartbroken disfunctional teenager after he is dumped by his girlfriend for the more popular captain of the ski team.after many failed comedic suicide attempts he starts to take notice of his new neighbour a french foreign exchange student and soon realises there is more to life than his ex and soon starts to fall for his neighbour, during the movie you find out why so disfunctional due to his strange homelife, his mother possibly the worlds worst cook is intent on actually making somethig edible, his brother who at 10 years old seems to have a firmer grasp on reality and the ways of the world and his father a traditional kind of guy concerned with the well being of his garage windows. in all a greatly enjoyable movie with plenty of fun and feel good factors from meeting the chinese duo always trying to street race cusack to the grand finale the race down the steepest most life threatening slope in town, over all well worh spending 90 minutes of your life on.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Great 80's comedy 12 Oct 2011
By Cavannaro
Format:DVD
This film probably isn't as good to watch for the first time in 2011, because it has dated a bit. But having seen it first in 1987, i love it as much now, if not more, coz it reminds me of a slightly more innocent time. It's a bit slow-paced by modern standards and the jokes are a tad more subtle, but the soundtrack is cheesily awesome and the characters WAY more endearing than you get these days.
To those of us who saw it when we were young, I reckon it'll always be a favourite. Will for me, at least.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars good film, but off the wall
being a huge John Cusack fan, i had high hopes of this film, but i was a tad disappointed. not up to his usual standard compared with sure thing / say anything / high... Read more
Published on 27 Sep 2010 by kelley
5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING
Best Film Ever. Laughed Througout. Being a huge JOHN CUSACK fan i knew i'd enjoy it anyway but watching it with my sister and friends hearing their laughter i knew it wasnt just my... Read more
Published on 2 Mar 2010 by Kimberley Broadway
5.0 out of 5 stars Better Off Dead Film Review
One of John Cusack's finest films. A sublime take on the teen US high school romp. All the characters are there, but with a twist.

Surreal but engagingly funny. Read more
Published on 15 Feb 2010 by Lady Square-Eyes
5.0 out of 5 stars The story of my life!
Long since deleted film, this is just how I saw myself at 16 when I first saw it. Maybe not an all singing all dancing film like some, but a real cult classic and worth a watch.
Published on 20 July 2009 by J. Mcgarry
4.0 out of 5 stars Good stuff...
Funny, a good laugh, worth watching. John Cusack is his fab charming 80's self. Item arrived quickly, on the day it was expected.
Published on 4 Jun 2009 by PunkRocker182
1.0 out of 5 stars Worst 80's teen movie - no doubt.
I'm a big fan of the genre - but I'm sorry to say that Better Off Dead is utter garbage. The story is pathetic, the acting desperately poor and the jokes never come close to... Read more
Published on 13 May 2009 by Rolo Talmasi
5.0 out of 5 stars Love it!
I loved this film when I was in my teens and was so happy to be able to find it on DVD. It is looking a little dated but I still love it! The music is fab too.
Published on 14 Mar 2009 by J. M. Lamont
5.0 out of 5 stars Feel better after watching!
Never misses a comedy beat as it romps through a series of scenarios in the life of lovelorn teenager Layne Myer (John Cussack). Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2009 by Jean O'Connor
5.0 out of 5 stars an oldie but a goodie
i like john cusack so thought i would give this dvd a whirl. ordered and paid, it came through the post very quickly in exactly the condition described, well packed and new... Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2009 by Mrs. G. Bedford
1.0 out of 5 stars Better off ... not watching it!
Truely awful wooden tripe. I honestly don't know what other reviewers saw in this. The only device that seems to work is the demented paper boy - everything else is forced and... Read more
Published on 14 Sep 2008 by C. Longton
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