Better Off Dead

UPC: 097368719149

Studio: Paramount

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Adult Language, Adult Humor]

Summary: Most animation aficionados of the 1990s know "Savage Steve Holland" as the cocreator (with Bill Kopp) of the all-stops-out TV cartoon series Eek! The Cat. But Holland had been exercising his own peculiar brand of deviltry on live characters long before Eek! came into being. In Holland's Better Off Dead, John Cusack plays a lovestruck teenager, hopelessly enamored with Amanda Wyss. When she dumps him in favor of a more popular high-schooler, the boy's entire day quickly goes to Hell. In the words of Hamlet, all occasions do inform against Cusack: he is bullied, tormented and torn apart by everyone from the paperboy (who seemingly turns up everywhere) to the disembodied voice of a radio deejay. Cusack attempts suicide, but his efforts are just as unsuccessful-and amusing-as Bud Cort's in Harold and Maude. Meanwhile, French exchange student Diane Franklin, held a virtual prisoner by her host family, develops a long-distance crush on Cusack. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Comedy

Features: ccWidescreen version enhanced for 16:9 TVs
English subtitles
Dolby Digital English Stereo

Better Off Dead

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 07/16/2002

Audio: DD2 Dolby Digital Stereo

Runtime: 97 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Beating the Paperboy
2. Cereal and Boiled Bacon
3. Howard Cosell Impersonators
4. Ski Team Tryouts
5. Death Attempt by Hanging
6. Green Goo With Raisins
7. Nose Wiping Incident
8. "I Want My Two Dollars!"
9. Chalkboard Fantasy
10. Mr. Kerber Asks to Date Beth
11. Cartoon Fantasy
12. Death Attempt by Jumping
13. White Trash
14. Christmas Miracle
15. Mailman Asks to Date Beth
16. Father/Son Talk
17. High School Dance
18. Meeting Monique
19. Attack of the Paperboys
20. A Man Alone
21. Everybody Wants Some
22. Barney Rubble Asks to Date Beth
23. "Franch Fries, Franch Dressing, Franch Bread"
24. K12 Challenge
25. Persistent Paperboy
26. Big Faker
27. Lane Wins the Drag Race
28. Romantic Frozen Dinner
29. Sliding Down the Mountain
30. Paperboy on Skis
31. Lane Wins the Ski Race
32. Language Lessons
33. One Look

Derek Armstrong

Cartoonist Savage Steve Holland made his directorial debut with this acid comedy about a going-nowhere hamburger flipper and his run of bad luck. Its gleefully twisted tone, exemplified by a goofy suicide attempt in a basically lighthearted film (John Cusack's character jumps off a bridge, only to land among the refuse of a passing garbage truck), made it a minor quotable classic to a generation of young anti-authoritarian filmgoers. In one of his earliest roles, Cusack wears his expression of hangdog gloom with real comic sensibility, and the succession of miserable people and events that enter his life warrant every last frown and sigh. The funniest and most memorable character set on bedeviling Cusack's Lane Myer is the determined paperboy, willing to ride his bike down a ski slope to collect his fee, whose refrain "I want my two dollars!" will resonate with audiences long after the credits roll. Curtis Armstrong and Dan Schneider also turn in quirky performances as Lane's best friend and his nemesis next-door neighbor, respectively. The set pieces, some of them punched up by Holland's own animation and offshoots thereof, make for a pleasingly outlandish little coming-of-age story that doesn't betray its own world view, even during the inevitable happier moments of the tale. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Vincent Schiavelli  Actor 
Edward Mehler  Actor 
Sebastian Dungan  Actor 
Stuart K. Robinson  Actor 
Brian Imada  Actor 
Rich Little  Actor 
Randy Stoklos  Actor 
Rima Delane  Actor 
Joey Tushnet  Actor 
Taylor Negron  Actor 
Darren Harris  Actor 
Yuji Okumoto  Actor 
Steven Williams  Actor 
Sam High  Actor 
Elizabeth Daily  Actor 
Chuck Mitchell  Actor 
Jonathan Charles Fox  Actor 
Dan Schneider  Actor 
Yano Anaya  Actor 
Peter Ellenstein  Actor 
Rick Rosenthal  Actor 
Tina Littlewood  Actor 
Frank Burt Avalon  Actor 
Toby Iland  Actor 
J. Warren David  Actor 
Thomas Rollerson  Actor 
David Vaughan  Actor 
Gil Friesen  Executive Producer 
Rupert Hine  Composer (Music Score) 
Savage Steve Holland  Director 
Savage Steve Holland  Screenwriter 
Michael Jaffe  Producer 
Isidore Mankofsky  Screenwriter 
Andrew Meyer  Executive Producer 
John Cusack  Actor 
David Ogden Stiers  Actor 
Kim Darby  Actor 
Demian Slade  Actor 
Scooter Stevens  Actor 
Diane Franklin  Actor 
Laura Waterbury  Actor 
Curtis Armstrong  Actor 
Amanda Wyss  Actor 
Aaron Dozier  Actor 

Country: USA