Better Off Dead

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In director Steve Savage Holland's 1985 comedy, Better Off Dead, high school student Lane Meyer (John Cusack) develops a death wish after his girlfriend, Beth (Amanda Wyss,) leaves him to date Roy Stalin (Aaron Dozier,) the captain of the ski team. Lane is a total nerfbag that makes underachievers seem successful. His best friend (Curtis Armstrong) has been going to high school for seven years ("I'm no dummy" he tells Lane,) and Lane's hapless dad (David Ogden Stiers) does not understand his weirdo son one iota. In the meantime, Monique (Diane Franklin,) a pretty exchange student, has moved in across the street, two Asian brothers (Yuji Okumoto, Brian Imada,) one who talks like Howard Cosell, constantly want to drag race him, and an extremely persistent paperboy (Demian Slade) wants to be paid for the prior month's deliveries. And if that weren't enough, Lane has to beat Stalin in a race in order to make the ski team. Taylor Negron and Vincent Schiavelli also have brief, funny roles. Better Off Dead is so weird, so bizarre (writer/director Holland has quite the imagination,) that it's laugh a minute hilarious. Cusack is great (he and Holland also worked together in One Crazy Summer,) and the cast worked quite well together. Throw in a funny Eddie Van Halen-inspired animated hamburger and some well done skiing footage, and you've got a classic 80's comedy. Silly as hell, but classic. (Info verified by Wikipedia)