1985’s American black comedy movie “Better off Dead” was directed Savage Steve Holland. Originally, the movie was intended to be a very dark movie. Starring John Cusack as the high school student Lane, who becomes suicidal after his girlfriend Beth (played by Amanda Wyss) dumps him for another handsome and popular guy.
The plot revolves around Lane who is suicidal and tries every attempt to end his life after getting dumped by his ex-girlfriend Beth, shortly before Christmas. Beth leaves him for a popular and handsome guy, Roy Stalin (played by Aron Dozier). Initially Lane tires every attempt to end his life but all his efforts goes in vain with continuous interruption from different people at different times.
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After a while, Lane discovers his motivation to live and that reason is Monique, a French foreign exchange student who has a secret crush on Lane. Not only Monique helps in building up the lost confidence of Lane, she helps him in fixing his automobile and teaches him skiing.
The film continues to move forward with new comic elements and an unexpectedrace between the main lead and bully. Talking further about this movie will surely spoil your excitement so I won’t disclose anything more than this and if you’re interested into classic comedy movies then this film is definitely for you.
If you have watched this film and want to relieve few of the classic moments then here is the list of some of the iconic quotes from the movie that will help you to relieve your memories once again.
1. “I want my two dollars!” – Johnny
The most iconic scene from the entire movie. Throughout the whole movie we could see our little paperboy Johnny taunts at our main character Lane for his two dollars. He is very demanding and won’t let his pay go in vain which is why he hounds at Lane with every chance he gets, ultimately transforming the whole thing into one of the most iconic scenes.
2. “Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn.” – Charles De Mar
Not a really good advice and specially for someone who is a beginner into this skiing world. The advice could be of great use to a professional but not to someone who is standing at the top of the mountains and is heading down towards an accelerated speed. Charles gives this advice to his friend Lane, who wants to win his ex-girlfriend back by proving to be the best in skiing just like her present boyfriend, Roy.
3. “Monique: I figured if we had nothing to say to each other he would get bored; go away. But instead he uses it as an excuse to put his testicles all over me.
Lane Myer: Excuse me?
Monique Junot: You know, like an octopus? Testicles?
Lane Myer: Ohhhh. Tentacles. N-T. Tentacles; big Difference.”
Surely both of the words have huge difference between them. It’s a struggle for an foreign exchange student to speak English in some proper accent. It is completely fine to mess up sometimes. Being an foreign exchange student, Monique got confused between ‘testicles’ and ‘tentacles’ but thank god, our main character came in to the rescue and clarified her confusion between the two words.
4. “Look Charles, I gotta do this. If I don’t, I’ll be nothing. I’ll end up like my neighbour Ricky Smith. He just sits around crocheting all day and snorting nasal spray.” – Lane
Lane is a beginner who have just entered the world of skiing with the sole purpose of wining back his ex-girlfriend. So he goes up to seek advice from Charles. Lane is terrified of skiing down the mountains at an accelerated pace but more than that he is extremely terrified to end up like his good for nothing, snorting up nasal spray neighbour, Ricky.
5. “Lane Meyer: I have great fear of tools. I once made a birdhouse in wood shop and the fair housing committee condemned it. I can’t.
Monique Junot: “‘I cannot do it’ is your middle name.”
It would be stereotypical for us assume that all boys are really good mechanics and all of them have a fair share of knowledge regarding automobiles. Every stereotype has an exception and in this case, our main character is not mechanically inclined.
The fear of failure has a strong grip on him which is why he was reluctant to fix his car when Monique provided her assistance in this task. Monique believes in Lane and tires to help him in order to build his confidence.
6. “Now that’s a real shame when folks be throwing’ away a perfectly good white boy like that.” – Tree trimmer to another tree trimmer
Hands down to yet another classic line from the movie. Lane gets dumped into a truck as his attempt to commit suicide by jumping off the bridge goes in vain. As the truck drives past both of the tree trimmers, one of them makes this hysterical comment regarding Lane’s condition. Poor Lane!
7. “Lane Myer: Uh, hello?
Monique Junot: Ah, bonjour.
Lane Myer: Monique, hi.
Monique Junot: Comment allez-vous?
Lane Myer: No thanks, I already had breakfast.”
That’s not the answer to the question Lane. If you are still wondering the meaning of ‘comment allez-vous’ and it simply translates into ‘how are you’. Both of the individuals have a big barriers between them and that is – language.This silly misunderstanding adds the comical element into the movie.
8. “Suicide is never the answer, little trooper.” – Charles De Mar
Suicide is never an option. It is easy to end a life but what makes it worthwhile is the way you live and make every second count. Death is not the solution. Just because life didn’t went the way you planned it doesn’t mean that you have reached a dead end and now death seems like the final solution to all of your problems. We all have struggles, we all have pain. You’re not alone and you will never be alone.
9. “I think all you need is a small taste of success, and you will find it suits you.” – Monique Junot
The taste of success can truly change a person especially for that person who has been labelled as a ‘failure’ throughout their entire life. Once someone has tasted what success feels like they will never return back on the path of failure. The adrenaline rush in their body pumps them push forward and forward until they transform into a better human being.
10. “Al Meyer: What is that?
Jenny Meyer: It’s bacon.
Al Meyer: I know it’s bacon, what have you done to it?
Jenny Meyer: You said you didn’t like all the grease from fried bacon, so I boiled it.”
Burn!!! You to be honest, this seems like a very good revenge idea (just kidding). Bacons are enjoyed for their crispiness and then you have someone you boiled them for you. Life couldn’t get any more worse than this point. The idea is so pathetic that you will think twice before serving it to your enemy.
11. “Listen, Lane, I think we should talk. We’ve been seeing an awful lot of each other lately, and I really think it’s in my best interest if I went out with someone more popular, better looking, drives a nicer car.” – Beth Truss
This is the worst possible way to break someone’s heart. Beth runs after unimportant things in life such as popularity, looks and wealth. She doesn’t even think twice before breaking Lane’s heart and jumping into another relationship.
For her, popularity is everything and completely discards Lane from her life like a piece of garbage. Such type of persons, be it a girl or boy are really injurious for your health. They are capable of breaking things rather than building it from the scratch.
12. “Roy Stalin: Alright, who wants to hold my clipboard? Well, you’ll make a fine little helper. What’s your name?
Charles De Mar: Charles De Mar.
Roy Stalin: Shut up, geek.”
How to spot a bully? They do not have the basic etiquette to pronounce someone’s name properly. And they find it very cool to pronounce someone’s name in a demeaning way. They pretend to be those cool kids who have shattered every barrier in their life. They forget that behind their mask of bully, lies a hidden face of a brat. Next time if someone tries to act cocky with you, be sure to give them a taste of their own medicine.
13. “See, the problem here is that—my little brother, this morning, got his arm caught in the microwave, and uh—my grandmother dropped acid and she freaked out and hijacked a school bus full of—penguins, so it’s kind of a family crisis—so come back later? Great.” – Lane Meyer
How can we ever forget this epic reply from Lane when Johnny was pestering around for his 2 dollars cash. Both of them are at fault in this situation but thanks to their argument we get to witness this epic scene.
There are many things in life where a teenager has to learn and being a comedy movie, “Better off Dead” teaches us some of the valuable lessons such as – in life, friends will always help you out from a difficult situation,one must not be too attached with materialistic things, one must never give up in the painful situations and most importantly death is not the ultimate solution.