Better Off Dead (1985): I want you back!
WORDS: SHANNON MALDONADO
Being in “love” in high school was the worst. You were either a single loser, in a totally fake relationship with someone you weren’t really into, or in love with someone who didn’t even know you existed. In Better Off Dead, John Cusack plays Lane Meyer, and adorable but kinda pathetic guy. He is blindsided when his girlfriend Beth suddenly dumps him for the douchey ski team captain Roy Stalin (best name for a dick head). The nail is put into the coffin when she switches out the picture of Lane next to her bed for one of Stalin. Major burn. Lane becomes suicidal which should be sad but is funny as hell. Adding to his stress, his parents don’t even notice and his best friend (Yup, that’s Booger) is too busy saying things like “He snorts nasal spray? Know where I can score some?” to be of much help.
Lane decides the only way to win Beth back is to ski the gnarly K-12 slope against Stalin. Here’s where the inevitable foreign exchange student enters the picture. She’s a spunky French girl named Monqiue that lives next door. They share a common disdain for the assholes at school and two amazing montages: one where they restore a 1967 Camaro and the other where they do a fanciful ski routine. Other bodacious scenes involves a hamburger performing with Eddie Van Halen’s guitar and the paperboy ski-ing on a bmx bike then falling off of a cliff!! Yes, this happens. In the end Lane wins the race all while skiing on one ski and even gets the girl. Eh, Beth was kind of a bitch anyway.
