Review of Better Off Dead... (1985) by Paul N — 04 Jul 2008

I remember walking down to the local theater to see this movie with my best friend Brad. I kind of remember thinking at the time that this wasn't likely to be a great film. But, well, you have to know Brad to know how convincing he can be in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

I'm here to vouch that 23 years later, the movie hasn't gotten any better. While I love John Cusack, this is certainly not one of his better films - though it's one of his first and therefore he deserves lots of leniency. It's one of his first, and it was one of three films that were released in 1985 that he starred in. Clearly, this couldn't have been a monumental work of artistic vision.

There are clever bits, but they're clever bits strung loosely together around a myriad of plot lines that never really wrap up nicely. If you like 80's music, you'll want to see this just for the soundtrack alone. Otherwise, watch it for the paperboy, and for the beautiful promise that someone can believe in a person, and sometimes, that makes all the difference for everyone.