Better Off Dead – Review

Vibes are set early on as an animated monster grabs a screaming large chested girl and zooms off through the countryside. A knight in shining armor chases her, in instant love and hoping to save the damsel in distress. Is this a precursor to what will come?!

Meanwhile, back in reality, high school kid Lane Meyer (Cusack) wakes up in his bedroom which is absolutely adorned with pictures of his girlfriend. It is 8 AM and his radio alarm sings out to rouse him from his slumber, despite it being a Saturday. He kisses a framed photo of Beth Truss (Wyss) lovingly, and weirdly. He takes it to shower, and even leaves his socks on. What a life.

This is northern California and the city of Greendale, which has nice suburbs and paperboys with cannon arms. Lane’s parents Al (Stiers) and Jenny (Darby) deal with a grotesque boiled bacon breakfast while his little brother Badger chomps cereal. He loves the prizes you can get from mail in box coupons. Today is ski tryout day, so Lane is headed up the mountain!

After family chaos, Lane hops in his parent’s station wagon, leaving his actually dope 1967 Camaro under a car cover in the driveway. He is afraid of tools and doesn’t have the nerve to fix it up. Beth will be heading up the mountain with him, buuuut… little does Lane know that she is looking for bigger and better guys, and faster skiers. She has her eyes and heart set on another dude, Roy Stalin, who can ski the K12 from the glacier, and live. Wow, right??

If Lane winds up dumped by Beth, he will probably feel like he is better off dead. I don’t know how they found the title for this film, it is a total mystery, but it deals with Lane and his attempt to deal with his utterly crushed heart, as well as some hardcore ski competition. How could she just throw away six whole months?!

Better Off Dead is a loony spoof-ish comedy. It is pretty clever as well as super silly and zany at times. Fun all around, despite its comedy focus, it still deals with some high school angst and self-doubt, as well as friendship and dating issues. Cusack is good, and the rest of the lesser-known cast still rock their roles also, playing the film fairly straight despite the absurd lines and situations. It is Christmas adjacent as it takes place around that time.

Come try to ski the K12, fly down the mountainside and win back your girl!!