So, continuing my series of comedic films from the 1980’s, last night movie was one of my favorites, Better Off Dead.

Sharing a commonality with last week’s movie, The Sure Thing, Better Off Dead stars John Cussak as Lane Meyers, a young man in high school obsessed with his girlfriend Beth. When Beth dumps Lane for the school jock, Roy Stalin, Lane is sent into a comedic tailspin of depression, suicidal thoughts, and misfortune.

This is by far not a film for everyone. Those people with sensitive levels of suspension of disbelief should skip right on past this movie, because nothing in this film is realistic.  Not the gangs of paperboys hunting down subscribers in the dead of night for their fees, Asian-Americans who can only speak like Howard Kossel, or best friends who are not dummies and have been going to the same high school for seven and half years.

This film was made my ‘Savage’ Steve Holland and it delights in the absurd, the whimsical, and the just plain strange. Is there really a reason for the Dr Frankenstein animation scene done with burgers and claymation other than because it is cool?

When you watch this film either it works for you and the lines become immortal “It has raisins. You like raisins.” Or it comes off as stupid and you quickly forget it.

The film is clearly a product of it’s age, much more so than the other two films I have recently watched from the 80’s, Tremors or The Sure Thing. The music is much more pop oriented, with a clearly sound-track album as part of the conception, but this movie transcends its faults and for those who love it, is irreplaceable.