Line #88 Film/BetterOffDead


1	[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/better_off_dead_movie_poster_1985.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:310:''"I want my two dollars!"'']]
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4	''Better Off Dead'' is a 1985 {{black comedy}} film written and directed by Savage Steve Holland and starring Creator/JohnCusack.
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6	After being dumped by his utterly-unfaithful girlfriend Beth (Creator/AmandaWyss), luckless teenager Lane Meyer (Cusack) makes several futile attempts to kill himself, while wandering in and out of a series of encounters with the residents--or should we say ''inmates''--of his bizarre hometown of Greendale, California. These include Lane's long-suffering father Al (Creator/DavidOgdenStiers), ditzy mother Jenny (Creator/KimDarby), and super-genius younger brother Badger (Scooter Stevens); his severely-underachieving best friend Charles (Creator/CurtisArmstrong); a pair of Korean car-racing enthusiasts, the one who speaks English having learned it from listening to Howard Cosell; and one ''very'' determined paper-boy. Lane's life finally begins to turn around when he meets Monique (Diane Franklin), a comely French exchange student who has been sentenced to live with the Meyers' grotesque neighbor Mrs. Smith (Laura Waterbury) and her socially awkward son Ricky (Creator/DanSchneider).
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8	Probably doesn't ''quite'' make it to classic status, especially the ending which veers off into painfully straight teen-movie win-the-athletic-competition territory, but mentioning this film or quoting from it is very likely to bring a smile to the face of Tropers of a certain age. It does have a pretty strong cult following due to the fact that aside from that ending, it has a different sense of humor than most '80s teen comedies and seems far less dated than other films of its type.
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10	----
11	!!"Now that's a real shame when folks be throwin' away a perfectly good trope list like that":
12	* AbhorrentAdmirer: The overweight, socially awkward Ricky has limited experience with the opposite sex, so when he and his mother host Monique during her student exchange, he latches onto her immediately, with encouragement from his mother. Monique finds him utterly repulsive, and simply pretends not to speak English (while Ricky and his mother do not speak a word of French) in an attempt to reduce the amount of time she has to spend around him. He finds a more suitable match at the very end of the film.
13	* TheAce: Everyone other than Lane seems to have incredible skill at doing things. Highlighted by Lane's younger brother, who uses his book knowledge to pick up trashy women and build a ''launchable space shuttle'' in the attic.
14	* ActorAllusion: When Beth (Amanda Wyss) shows up at the dance, there is someone behind her wearing Freddy Krueger's sweater. Wyss played Krueger's first victim in ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet1984''.
15	* AllLowercaseLetters: The opening and closing credits.
16	* AngryGuardDog: Joanne Greenwald has to struggle to keep her family's large furiously barking dog inside the house.
17	* AnimatedCreditsOpening
18	* AscendedMeme: "I want my two dollars!"
19	* BlindDate: Joanne and Lane get set up by their fathers. Neither is actually interested in it and Joanne just calculates how much money they would have spent on the date and suggests Lane just give her that and they avoid the trouble of actually going out on a date.
20	* BracesOfOrthodonticOverkill: Joanne Greenwald, Lane's unfortunate but practical blind-date, is described by Lane as having antennae growing out of her face. When we see her, she has such a massive and complicated set of orthodontic headgear that she probably can pick up radio signals with it.
21	* BreakingTheFourthWall: In-universe example: Barney Rubble of ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' interrupts a broadcast to ask Lane if he can date Beth.
22	* BrickJoke: After establishing some of the absurd things Badger gets as his [[CompetitionCouponMadness box-top mail-order prizes]], including a book on how to pick up trashy women and an actual working RayGun, he acquires a space shuttle construction kit about halfway through the movie. Other than Lane bringing up in passing that his brother is still working on it, it doesn't come up again until [[spoiler: the very last scene of the movie, when a space shuttle suddenly crashes through the Meyers' roof and flies off into space]].
23	* BumblingDad: Downplayed by Al, who is definitely one of these, but compared to the rest of Greendale, he’s one of the most normal and straight-laced residents.
24	* BungledSuicide: Several -- it's one of the film's {{Running Gag}}s.
25	** First, Lane tries hanging himself in the garage, only to have a change of heart when he decides he hasn't really lived yet. A pity his mother proceeds to open the back door into him while vacuuming, knocking him off the step and forcing him to grab the noose to keep from getting strangled.
26	** Then, he tries carbon monoxide poisoning. However, as he passes out, he accidentally puts the car in reverse and backs through the garage door his father has just repaired.
27	** Next, he tries jumping off a bridge, only to change his mind, and Charles gives him an encouraging pat on the back that pushes him off, only to [[TrashLanding land in the back of a garbage truck]].
28	--->"Now that's a real shame when folks be throwin' away a perfectly good white boy like that!"
29	** Finally, after seeing a headline about a man committing suicide by setting himself on fire, he wraps himself in his bedclothes and goes into the garage to find a can of gasoline; he has to settle for paint thinner, but is then dragged into a family dinner with the Smiths and Monique as guests where Mrs. Smith drinks a big glass of the thinner, mistaking it for liquor. Then she lights a cigarette...
30	--->'''Lane:''' Gee, I'm real sorry your mom blew up, Ricky.
31	* BurgerFool: Lane has to wear a hideous pig-themed hat at Pig Burger, even though he works back in the kitchen.
32	* ButtMonkey: Al. His windows get broken. His children are troubled. His wife is a LethalChef who gives him a ridiculous coat to wear for Christmas.
33	* CassandraTruth: Al is right on the money when he observes that [[spoiler:Monique has to have known some English to come over as an exchange student]] but he's ignored. Upon hearing about Monique's arrival, he speculates that Mrs Smith agreed to host an exchange student because she thinks it's the only way Ricky will get anything resembling a social life or girlfriend. Monique, at least, seems to think the same and expresses disgust at ''both'' the Smiths' actions towards her.
34	* TheChewToy: Lane, who the entire universe seems to hate.
35	* {{Claymation}}: A brief sequence set in the burger joint where Lane works. Set to Music/VanHalen, no less!
36	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Lane's mother Jenny is a LethalChef who gives bizarre Christmas gifts. Her idea of a French dinner includes French fries, French dressing, French bread, and Perrier (which she pronounces as "Peru" for some reason).
37	* CoolCar: Initially averted with Lane's canvas-draped, cobwebbed (and nonfunctional) Camaro. But once [[WrenchWench Monique]] gets her hands on it, it goes from aversion to expression.
38	* TheDeterminator: The paper boy will stop at '''nothing''' to receive his pay.
39	--->"I want my two dollars!!"
40	* DidIMentionItsChristmas: Christmas is mentioned at least once in the film, as it is one of the times when Lane Meyer tries to kill himself, this time via car exhaust asphyxiation.
41	* DieOrFly: Played for laughs. No amount of encouraging pep talks can get Lane to make it down K-12 without crashing and tumbling...[[spoiler: until [[SuperPersistentPredator the paperboy comes right out of nowhere and starts chasing him again]], at which point he not only beats Stalin in a race while skiing for his life, but does it on ''one ski'' after the other one broke]].
42	* DisappearedDad: It's mentioned that Ricky's father is dead.
43	* DrivenToSuicide: Lane decides he has nothing left to live for after Beth leaves him for Roy Stalin, captain of the ski team. Unfortunately, his every attempt to do himself in ends in hilarious failure.
44	* EccentricTownsfolk: Everybody we meet in Greendale, even Lane himself, are all at least a little off-kilter.
45	* TheEighties: Identifiable by the catchy pop song soundtrack.
46	* EnfantTerrible: The menacing paperboy. "I want my two dollars!!"
47	* EverybodyHatesMathematics: Inverted, because Mr. Kerber is ''just that good''. Every student in the class (except the distracted Lane) hangs on his every word, and even though his homework assignments are long enough to require several folders' worth of paper to answer, every student (except, again, the distracted Lane) is happy to do them, and when Mr. Kerber asks for volunteers to write answers on the chalkboard, a forest of hands goes up.
48	* EveryoneHasStandards: Beth looks a little uncomfortable as Stalin insults Lane at the BurgerFool place.
49	* EvilGenius: Badger is highly intelligent, but seems to put his intelligence to rather sinister uses, such as modifying a toy laser to fire real laser blasts, buying a book on how to pick up trashy women (and it works!), and building a working Space Shuttle that launches through the roof of his family's house during the closing credits.
50	* FiveSecondForeshadowing: If you pay close attention, in the cafeteria scene where Stalin harasses Lane, Monique, and Ricky, you can actually see Monique take the Coke off the table, leading up to the more obvious close up of her hand shaking it up and then spraying him with it.
51	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
52	** There are multiple hints that Monique might be faking.
53	*** The multiple disgusted looks she gives at Ricky and his mom.
54	*** When she steps on the gas in Lane's car. The only way she could have understood that the Ree brothers wanted a race was if she understood English.
55	*** The part where she blasts the soda in Stalin's face. She obviously knows exactly what he's saying.
56	*** When Ricky says he's telling his mom after the crash, she starts laughing harder.
57	*** After Lane tells her about the Camaro before going to the ski shop, she looks knowingly at the covered Camaro, foreshadowing both that she understood what he said and that she will be able to fix it.
58	** On a less character related note, Charles tells Lane to take up the sax again to impress Beth. Late in the movie, he's shown playing it at the restaurant, but not for Beth. For Monique.
59	* FunnyBackgroundEvent:
60	** Look carefully in the cafeteria scene before the basketball team engage in a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown against Lane and you'll see they're all eating baby food.
61	** When Lane enters the house after deciding to douse himself in paint thinner and set himself on fire, he throws the cloth he found in the mouth of the jar into the dining room, unaware that anyone is in there. However, his parents and brother are there with the Smiths and Monique. As his mother ushers Lane to his seat for dinner, we see his father disgustedly remove the thinner-soaked cloth from where it landed on his shoulder.
62	** After the announcement that Lane will be racing Roy, everyone in the cafeteria starts cheering for him... except for Ricky, who just takes the opportunity to quickly steal Monique's Ring Ding.
63	* FunnyForeigner: [[ForeignExchangeStudent Monique]] mostly avoids this except [[spoiler:for one or two ''slight'' problems with English]].
64	* HiddenDepths: Ricky is an ok disco dancer.
65	* HomemadeSweaterFromHell: Jenny wears a reindeer outfit, complete with an antler-headpiece, to distribute the family's Christmas gifts.
66	* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Ricky when he's dancing with Monique. [[spoiler:He's also a couple of heads taller than his new girlfriend at the end.]]
67	* ImpossiblyTackyClothes: Jenny's big Christmas present for her husband Al is a coat made with "real aardvark fur", complete with an aardvark head on the hood. She assures Al that everybody will be wearing one; Al struggles to hide his disgust, but Jenny may be right, as their next door neighbour is also wearing one when they go outside.
68	* INeedToGoIronMyDog:
69	** On Christmas Day, Lane is on the phone with Beth, with the tiny teddy bear he has bought her as a Christmas present in the hope of persuading her to return to him. From his half of the conversation, we learn that Roy gave her a giant teddy bear larger than she is. Embarrassed, he mutters, "Beth, I gotta go, the Christmas tree's on fire." Even though he's in his bedroom and the Christmas tree is in the living room.
70	** Lane ditching the paperboy.
71	--->'''Lane:''' My little brother got his arm stuck in the microwave. So my mom had to take him to the hospital. My grandma dropped acid this morning, and she freaked out. She hijacked a busload of... penguins. So it's sort of a family crisis. Bye!
72	* InnocentlyInsensitive: The ski rental guy who got hurt doing K-12 and talks about what a moron it would take to go back on there right after Lane has agreed to a race there.
73	* InstantExpert: "Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn."
74	* InsultBackfire: Played with when Stalin insults Lane and Charles at one point during the New Years dance; Lane is insulted, but Charles finds it hilarious, even interrupting Stalin's dance with Beth because he's still laughing (though this may be Charles' way of turning the insult around - it's hard to insult someone who genuinely acts as if he thinks your comments are hilarious, and given how Stalin has to keep walking away from him, it's ''working'').
75	* InterruptedSuicide: Lane's suicide attempts all end in failure, climaxing when he decides to douse himself in paint thinner (the gasoline can being empty) and set himself on fire, only to be hauled into a dinner his parents are hosting for the Smiths and Monique. Mrs. Smith drinks some of the thinner, thinking it's wine, then lights a cigarette...
76	* IntimidatingRevenueService: Not the IRS, but Johnny the Paperboy constantly pursues Lane for the $2 he owes for four weeks of newspapers, [[spoiler: going so far as to go up a ski slope with his bike ''and'' skis to collect his money]].
77	* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Monique restores Lane's Camaro and coaches him on how to conquer the K-12, and falls in love with him in the process even though she knows she is actively aiding his efforts to win Beth back. Of course, [[spoiler:Lane comes to his senses in time and goes off with Monique at the end of the film]].
78	* JerkJock: The villain, such as he is. His name? ''Roy Stalin''.
79	* KickTheDog: Beth isn't exactly wrong to break up with the obsessed, eccentric Lane, but telling him to his face that it's just for social status and she thinks he's dragging her down is pretty cold.
80	* LanguageOfLove: Subverted when [[spoiler: it turns out that Monique speaks English fairly fluently]].
81	* LearntEnglishFromWatchingTelevision: One of the Asian street racers learned English from Howard Cosell, and can only talk like Cosell.
82	* LethalChef: Hoo boy. Jenny.
83	** Lane pokes one of her creations with his fork, and it ''starts moving away''.
84	--->'''Jenny:''' It's got raisins in it. You ''like'' raisins.
85	** She's so bad, she gives TV dinners as Christmas presents.
86	* LoveAtFirstSight: At the very end of the film, Ricky meets a smiling gal who is essentially his female equivalent. He stares for a long moment, gives a sort of "oh, why not" shrug and goes off with her arm in arm, leaving his mother squashed in the snow.
87	* {{Malaproper}}: Monique gets into this territory once or twice due to not being a native English speaker. For example, she complains to Lane about Ricky putting his "testicles" all over her; Lane points out that the word she's looking for is "tentacles".
88	* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Monique, sort of. She ''is'' the one who finally blows Lane out of his self-pitying rut, but she's also the most competent, level-headed and normal person in the entire movie - which probably more-or-less makes her a straight version of the trope. When everyone in town is weird, being "normal" makes ''you'' the "weird" one.
89	* MeaningfulName: Roy ''Stalin''.
90	* MediumShiftGag: There are a couple of gag sequences in both clay and hand-drawn animation, representing Lane's bizarre daydreams about dancing hamburgers and so forth.
91	* MessOnAPlate: Lane's mother spoons grey-green goo (with raisins!) directly onto Lane's plate. He pokes it with his fork and it crawls away. And the less said about the boiled bacon, the better.
92	* MundaneMadeAwesome: Mr Kerber's math class, wherein advanced geometry is ludicrously popular. Apart from Lane, who is too busy moping over Beth to pay attention, every student in the room reacts with unbridled interest and fascination to every word that comes out of Mr. Kerber's mouth, and when he asks for volunteers to demonstrate the problems on the latest (very, ''very'' long) homework assignment, every student in the room (apart from Lane, again) raises an eager hand. (To be fair, Kerber is played by Creator/VincentSchiavelli.)
93	* MyBelovedSmother: Ricky's social awkwardness is implied to be caused by his overbearing harridan of a mother, who is forcibly setting him up with the horrified Monique.
94	* MyGirlIsNotASlut: After the break-up, every guy from the [[OneSceneWonder math teacher]] to the rude mailman to [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Barney Rubble]] is asking Lane if it would be alright to date his ex.
95	* NakedFreakOut: The roller-skating cheerleader in the cafeteria in her underwear, due to Lane's accidental slip-up. [[FromBadToWorse To make matters worse]], [[spoiler:ALL of her boyfriends give him a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown]].
96	* NewsTravelsFast: Exaggerated. Lane eventually gets fed up with Stalin's bullying and challenges him to a race down K-12. Despite his insistence that "No one has to know" about the race, mere ''seconds'' after Roy storms off, an announcement of the race is broadcast over the intercom.
97	* ObstacleSkiCourse: "Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn."
98	* OffBridgeOntoVehicle: Lane is preparing to commit suicide by throwing himself off an overpass when a slap on the back from his friend Charles sends him over the edge, only for him to land in a garbage truck that was passing underneath.
99	* OnlySaneMan:
100	** As noted, Greendale evidently had to import from ''France'' to get even one person whose bubble isn't at least a little off-plumb. And then the environment evidently takes its toll on her as well...
101	** Out of the natives, Al and, curiously, ''Roy'' are the ones who appear to be the most normal. Of course, Roy is this due to his role as a JerkJock, and Al is the quintessential BumblingDad, which should tell you something about Greendale.
102	* OverlyLongGag: Roy makes a joke at Lane and Charles's expense. Charles [[InsultBackfire bursts out laughing]]. A lot. To the point where he later interrupts a romantic dance between Roy and his girlfriend because he's ''still laughing''.
103	* {{Polyamory}}: Cheerleader Chris Cummins apparently dates the entire basketball team.
104	* PretentiousPronunciation: Lane's mother serves Monique "Frahnch Fries", etc. And to drink, Peru!
105	* PreviouslyOverlookedParamour: Lane spends a good portion of the film pining for his ex, Beth. In the interim, he strikes up a friendship with the French exchange student and [[WrenchWench automotive enthusiast]] Monique. By the end of the race to win Beth's affections back (which he wins on one ski) Lane realizes that he and Monique are much more compatible.
106	* ProductPlacement: A very prominent flag for The North Face is shown directly above Lane's head while in the ski shop, though averted in another scene with a equally-prominent Coke can that is carefully oriented so that the viewer can't see the logo.
107	* QuirkyTown: Greendale.
108	* ReverseHarem: Chris Cummins is a cheerleader who dates the basketball team. The ''entire'' team.
109	* RuleOfFunny: This movie essentially runs on this, no matter how weird the jokes can get.
110	* RunningGag:
111	** "I want my two dollars!!"
112	** Lane's drag-race-at-the-stoplight moments, plus the crash into the driver ''behind'' him.
113	** Badger's mail-order purchases.
114	** The garage door windows getting broken.
115	** And, as noted, Lane's deeply futile suicide attempts.
116	* ShamefulStrip: Chris Cummins seems pretty mortified when Lane (while wildly grabbing after he falls due to his unfamiliarity with the roller skates he's wearing) grabs onto her cheerleading uniform and yanks it off, leaving Chris standing there in the cafeteria with her underwear exposed.
117	* SiblingTeam: The two drag racer brothers.
118	* StalkerShrine: Lane has turned his room into one of these, dedicated to his girlfriend.
119	* StandardSnippet:
120	** Music/MuddyWaters' "Mannish Boy" plays as Lane's Camaro rolls out for the first time.
121	** Music/GeneAutry's "Here Comes Santa Claus" plays during the Christmas sequence.
122	* StealthPun: The mountain Lane hopes to ski down to impress Beth enough to take him back is called the K-12, as in the grades of pre-collegiate education in the USA. This is also a reference to K2, a very big, very dangerous mountain in the Himalayas.
123	* StockShoutOut: Lane doing Frankenstein-imbuing-the-creature-with-life at the start of the "Everybody Wants Some" sequence.
124	* TheStoner: Charles.
125	** Or he would be, if he could find anything to get stoned on.
126	--->'''Charles:''' Greendale is a bodaciously small town, Lane. It's a flyspeck on the map, a rest-stop on the way to a ski resort. I can't even get real drugs here!
127	** Snorting ''real snow'' seems to work for him.
128	--->'''Charles:''' This is pure snow! It's EVERYWHERE! Have you any idea what the street value of this mountain is?
129	* SuddenlyVoiced: Ricky doesn't say much of anything until the drag race he's present for.
130	* SuicideAsComedy: Detecting a theme yet?
131	-->'''Charles:''' And dying when you're not really sick is really sick, you know? Really!
132	* TheTelevisionTalksBack: As alluded to above, when Lane came home from a bad day at school and turned the TV to ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'', he got this:
133	-->'''Barney Rubble:''' Hey there, Lane, I know this is a little awkward, me being a cartoon and all... I was just wondering how you'd feel if ''I'' took out Beth.
134	* ThrowTheDogABone: Ricky's existence is clearly pretty miserable, and at the very end of the movie he gets a (willing) girlfriend.
135	* TitleDrop: The singer at the school dance.
136	%%* TomBoyAndGirlyGirl
137	* TotallyRadical: Lane's father awkwardly attempts to "connect" with him. He has to keep glancing at a book about youth psychology and still gets the words wrong, telling Lane to "Mellow off", that he's "really bringing [him] over", and exclaims "Right off!" when Lane finally agrees to date his law partner's daughter.
138	* TranslationByVolume: Lane's father tries to communicate with Monique the exchange student from France by shouting.
139	-->'''Mr. Meyer:''' ARE YOU ENJOYING YOUR STAY IN OUR TOWN?
140	* TrashLanding:
141	-->"Now that's a real shame when folks be throwin' away a perfectly good white boy like that!"
142	* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Badger, who gets an actual working RayGun as a [[CompetitionCouponMadness box-top prize]] in the mail, and then a book on how to pick up trashy women, and then is later seen in a room full of them, complete with alcohol. [[spoiler: By the end of the movie, he's built an actual working space shuttle and flies off into space.]]
143	* UnkemptBeauty: Monique looks surprisingly hot with car grease on her face.
144	* VanityLicensePlate: The villain's Trans-Am.
145	* TheVoiceless:
146	** Badger never says a word throughout the film. His book on how to pick up trashy women presumably includes some non-verbal methods. This could just be an expression of contempt for Lane.
147	** Monique spends much of the film saying nothing at all, and the few words she does speak are in unsubtitled French. [[spoiler: Eventually, it's revealed that she actually ''can'' speak English just fine, but pretends she can't just so that she doesn't have to talk to the Smiths.]]
148	* TheWorldMocksYourLoss: Lane is constantly reminded of his ex, Beth, because every other guy in town (and [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Barney Rubble]]) wants to date her.
149	* WrenchWench: Monique turns out to be one. Lane bought an old, non-functional Camaro to impress Beth, but has dragged his feet about actually restoring it for several months. Monique gets it up and running in a matter of days.
150	----
151	-> "I want my two dollars!"

Context Film / BetterOffDead