# Help me identify this 80's old school teen comedy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 22, 2016, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-80s-old-school-teen-comedy/758034 "2016-06-22T11:59:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-80s-old-school-teen-comedy/758034/21 "2016-06-26T00:57:47Z")
I always confuse\* Better off Dead \*with _One Crazy Summer_. I think Cusack was supposed to be an animator in both. But the latter is the one with the [great animated short at the beginning](https://youtu.be/cPGVdIgBJNI?t=14) featuring the cute fuzzy bunny-creatures… ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-80s-old-school-teen-comedy/758034/22 "2016-06-26T19:41:57Z")
I always liked _Better Off Dead_ and, to a lesser extent, _One Crazy Summer_ (which is a weaker film), but was really sad to hear that John Cusack hates these movies. I get the impression the man has no taste. And, by the way, Savage Steve Holland, who made both of these films, made another called _How I Got Into College_. It’s slightly amusing if you’re going through the college admissions process or know someone who is. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-80s-old-school-teen-comedy/758034/23 "2016-06-27T02:16:52Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I have never seen _Better Off Dead_. I don’t think I’d even heard of it, nor heard anyone talk about it until a couple of years ago when all of a sudden everyone spoke of it as though it was a seminal 80s movie. It’s so odd. > > The same thing, incidentally, with _Monster Squad_. How old are you? I would think it’s very well known to people who were high schoo/college age in the mid-late 80’s. My friends and I used to quote it all the time. “Two dollars!” “That’s a real shame when folks be throwing away a perfectly good white boy like that.” etc… ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-80s-old-school-teen-comedy/758034/24 "2016-06-27T04:27:19Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > How old are you? I would think it’s very well known to people who were high schoo/college age in the mid-late 80’s. I’ll be 47 this year. I was a teenager throughout the 80s. Though it was in New Zealand. For whatever reason, even though I grew up with John Hughes movies (didn’t watch them, however), I seemed to have bypassed a lot of that genre that came afterward. Sometimes random quirks of location or situation can do that, which I find fascinating. I have heard of _Say Anything_, but nevr heard of _Better Off Dead_ until very recently. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-80s-old-school-teen-comedy/758034/25 "2016-06-28T14:00:20Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > We had a TV set up near the entrance of the store where we would play new or recent releases, but which also served to entertain whoever was working when the store was empty - which was often. Whoever was on duty could select what was playing (G or PG only!). > > Anyway, to skip to the point - I watched _Better Off Dead_ almost every day that summer. At one point I counted 34 times I had watched it beginning to end. So… yeah, trust me, that was the movie. I’m familiar with it. > > ETA: “I’ve been in high school for seven years. I’m no dummy.” I also did hard time in a video store between 1989-1996. Better Off Dead and that other one with Daphne Zuniga (can’t remember the name- they travel together trying to get home on break), Clue, Princess Bride and all the John Hughes movies were in our nightly rotation. Anything funny and quotable kept us from succumbing to the mind numbing boredom of the job… ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-80s-old-school-teen-comedy/758034/26 "2016-06-28T15:33:49Z")
This is pure snow! It’s everywhere! Do you have any idea what the street value of this mountain is? ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-80s-old-school-teen-comedy/758034/27 "2016-06-28T15:39:02Z")
> [@LVBoPeep](#): > > I also did hard time in a video store between 1989-1996. Better Off Dead and that other one with Daphne Zuniga (can’t remember the name- they travel together trying to get home on break), Clue, Princess Bride and all the John Hughes movies were in our nightly rotation. Anything funny and quotable kept us from succumbing to the mind numbing boredom of the job… _The Sure Thing_ ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-80s-old-school-teen-comedy/758034/28 "2016-06-30T15:34:35Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > My favorite scene from that movie: [the balloon jump](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjGNTu-ais8) Holy Crap, that’s hilarious! I’ve seen that movie dozens of times and didn’t know what you were talking about. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-this-80s-old-school-teen-comedy/758034.md?page=1)