Feel Good Movies: Love is the International Language in "Better Off Dead"

When choosing a "feel good" movie, it might seem odd to pick one in which the main character tries to kill himself in various ways. But Savage Steve Holland's 1985 comedy classic, Better Off Dead, is a definitive feel good feature. It's a charming, romantic tale of love lost, love found again, and crazed paperboys who will do anything for two dollars.

High school teen Lane Meyer (John Cusack) is excited about the upcoming trials for the ski team. But thanks to the obnoxious ski captain, not only does Lane not make the team, but the captain proceeds to steal his girlfriend, Beth, a girl with whom Lane is undeniably obsessed. Heartbroken, Lane attempts suicide in ridiculous ways, none, of course, which prove successful. Eventually, Lane decides that the best way to win back Beth is to ski the K-12, a notorious slope that has reportedly only been defeated by the loathsome, girlfriend-stealing ski captain. He gets help from an unlikely person, the sweet French foreign exchange student, Monique (Diane Franklin), staying at the house across the street.

In spite of Lane's death wish, Holland's movie never takes itself seriously and doesn't even play like a black comedy. One of the reasons for this is the casting of Cusack. The actor is like a young James Stewart. He's consistently delightful, and he can do no wrong (Cusack even played a hitman in 1996's Grosse Pointe Blank, and you couldn't help but love him). So his suicide attempts just seem funny, especially when they include covering himself in bedsheets, planning to set himself afire (and gingerly applying primer while at the dinner table). They're also humorous because they all invariably go awry -- just watch what happens with the aforementioned primer.

Another reason the film is lighthearted fun is its focus on Lane's perspective. Nearly the entire film is his point-of-view, with drawings that animate themselves, a ludicrously difficult math class in which Lane is the only student not in awe of the complex lecture, and dancing hamburgers that perform Van Halen songs. Worst of all, everyone is asking about Lane's recent break-up, from his math teacher to the postal carrier and even Barney from The Flintstones. In Lane's world, his oblivious mother is a horrible cook (her food sometimes crawls off the plate), his father can only relate to him with the help of a book, and his never-speaking younger brother is fruitful in all his endeavors, mostly creating functional "toys" from catalogs and cereal boxes.

But what really makes Better Off Dead work is the wonderful romance between Lane and Monique. Monique is staying with the Smiths, an abrasive mother and her neurotic son who won't leave Monique alone (she mockingly calls him "Casanova" while speaking to Lane). Monique feigns an inability to speak English -- mostly to evade discussions with the Smiths -- but this leads to fun scenes of Lane opening up to her, not realizing that she can understand him. Monique is smitten, of course, and Lane ultimately falls for her. At its very core, Better Off Dead is a love story. A peculiar love story in which a paperboy on a bike equipped with skis isn't considered abnormal and is really just a minor nuisance, but a love story nonetheless.

Holland followed this film with One Crazy Summer the next year. It was a similar movie also starring Cusack and Curtis Armstrong in prominent roles (Armstrong played Cusack's friend in Better Off Dead), with Cusack as a cartoonist (he apparently dabbled in that craft in this film). Holland himself was an animator and designed the animated sequences in both films. Better Off Dead is an affectionate, unforgettable movie, and if you ever doubt its popularity, just grab someone off the street and say, "I want my two dollars." There's a good chance that person will know what you're talking about!