Better Off Dead

Lane Myer, played by John Cusack, gets dumped by his girlfriend, sending him into a suicidal depression. And the laughs just keep coming. No, seriously. Better Off Dead is Savage Steve Holland's debut feature film. A sort of surreal "Mad Magazine Guide to Teenage Depression." Much like his second film, One Crazy Summer, Better Off Dead is filled with cartoony visual gags and wacky character actors. It's a bit of a shaggy dog story, with several vignettes that don't really advance the plot. But that's part of the movie's charm. If nothing else, you need to know that this movie features a sequence where a stop motion animated hamburger rocks out to a Van Halen track. Because if that doesn't pique your interest, nothing will.

Rating: 77%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Fun Fact: Amanda Wyss, who played Lane's ex-girlfriend Beth, also played Tina in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street.

One Crazy Summer

John Cusack stars as Hoops McCann, an aspiring animator in search of inspiration and romance. He ends up finding a little bit of both after accepting an invitation to spend the summer in Nantucket. One Crazy Summer is an 80s movie through and through: it’s got a rich, blonde bully, a greedy real estate developer and a winner-take-all race at the finale. It also has a lot of personality; the movie is filled with absurdist gags and blink-and-you’ll-miss-them visual jokes. The cast is great too, with performances from Cusack, Demi Moore, Bobcat Goldthwait, Curtis Armstrong, Joel Murray, Joe Flaherty, Jeremy Piven, Taylor Negron and the mean guy from that Twisted Sister video. One Crazy Summer has it all: comedy, romance, cartoon rhinos, crossbows, cute fuzzy bunnies, a giant dolphin with rabies and a guy stuck in a Godzilla suit destroying a model village. Truly, something for everyone.

Rating: 71%

(Image from Wikipedia)