I realize this is quite the departure from all previous posts.
But I digress. Well, this whole thing is a digression, so I suppose I digress from my digression on this digression.
And now my head hurts.
One of the truly magniificent aspects of working from home is being able to have the TV on during working hours. Most often I do keep the tube tuned to the Retro-Active Music Choice channel, but today I found myself surfing to see what movies were on. And low-and-behold there they were, back-to-back, on differing channels. "Better Off Dead" and "One Crazy Summer" the quintessential "Savage" Steve Holland films. Amazingly enough, he has only directed one other feature length film. Huh.
So, I struggled to decide which film was superior. So I want to have it out right here, "Better Off Dead" (BOD) vs. "One Crazy Summer" (OCS) in a battle to the death. Or at least a battle to satiate some sort of inherently mundane craving to rant tonight. Here goes...
Acting Lead
Cusack versus Cusack. Solid in both, perhaps funnier in OCS, though weirder and more memorable in BOD. Fairly evenly matched with himself though. BOD takes the nod here though, Cusack's hair is longer and his sideburns are creepily above his ears in "OCS." That always bothers me.
Winner: Better Off Dead
Supporting Cast
Curtis "Booger" Armstrong in the transcendant role of Charles De Mar gives BOD the clear edge. Throw in a Tour De Something from Dan Schneider (from "Head of the Class") as Ricky Smith and the supporting characters in BOD really carry much of the flick. "Booger" is minimized in OCS, and Bobcat Goldthwait is heavily featured, thus giving OCS two strikes against it already. Joel "Not Bill, Not Brian Doyle and not the other one" Murray does a fine job in the role of George, Cusack's best friend. Though he was 23 playing an 18 year old...and actually looked close to 45 in the role. Illinoisans surely are known for their healthy lifestyles. Anyway, De Mar makes this a runaway for BOD.
Winner For being a fine little helper, Better Off Dead.
Douchebag Popular Blonde, Rich Dude
The best part in researching this is learning that the guy who played Roy Stalin (Aaron Dozier) has absolutely no other acting credits to his name. Hey, I guess when you peak, you peak. Anyway, Teddy Beckerstead (played by Matt Mulhern) gives OCS its first win here, because his douchebag scowl was far superior. You know, that look that WASPy rich douchebags give when they feel superior? Yeah, Mulhern has it down pat in OCS. Roy Stalin seemed a little too concerned with his feathered hair to really get that stare perfected.
Winner:One Crazy Summer
Random Person Popping Up
You know, this was closer than I thought it would be. OCS has Demi Moore. And the great parts about Demi in this movie are 1) she sings...horribly and 2) she has the chest of a 12 year old girl. Now I am not by any means a breast-obsessed dude but...it really is just worth mentioning that Demi looks like she didn't hit puberty until after this movie was shot. Anyway, this category is closer than I thought it would be because of the appearance in BOD by Elizabeth Daily singing during the school dance scene. Elizabeth would go on to play Dottie in "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure." Anyway OCS still is the winner here, but mostly because of Demi's awful singing.
As an aside, IMDB threw this info my way...Elilzabeth Daily apparently was once married to Rick Salomon, of taping having sex with Paris Hilton fame. Blech.
Winner:: One Crazy Summer
Random Weird Moments:
Those things that really make a movie a "Savage" Steve movie. Here are the ones that truly stick out:
In OCS:
- When Hoops and George go to pick up George's sister from school, and the school is named "Generic Elementary School." Hi-larious.
- During the scene in which George's sister's dog is at the "Hollistic Animal Care Hospital" and as the camera pans in, there is one dog sitting in a wheelchair being wheeled across screen by another dog on its hindlegs with a white coat and doctor's metal thingie headband on. Classic. Kills me every time.
IN BOD:
- The Chinese guys who drag race Lane, as one commentates like Howard Cosell. So random...so funny.
- But what gives BOD the win...the scene during the school dance while Elizabeth Daily sings "I'd be better off dead...than to live without you..." and Ricky gains the attention of the whole dance floor by twitching his legs and then...loosens his tie...and just bellyflops straight onto the ground. And lies there. On his face. Treeeemendous. Even better..how that scene ends with the other students dancing back into frame, highlighted by one over-exhuberant dude doing the 80s dance into the "Pencil Sharpener," an 80s classic, and a favorite of mine.
Winner: By a nose dive...BOD.
So there it is. "Better Off Dead" is, in fact, the superior movie in quite the close contest, 3-2. Anyone care to chime in? Yell at me? Anyone even care?
5 comments:
I had a definite time in my life when I only owned Cusak movies. And for me it was always BOD over OCS.
As a half-WASP I object to the stereotypical portrayal of rich WASP-douchebags in both movies. There's more to rich WASP douchebags than sneers and scoffing. There's the uh .... the uh .... uhh ... ok I got nothing; it was accurate.
"Now that's a real shame when folks go and throw away a perfectly good white boy like that."
BOD is always a winner with me. Always. Dancing food, Van Halen, French exchange students, underdog winning in the end, genius little brother, that green raisin shit that scooted off the plate, Vincent Schiavelli AND a saxaphone? Hello? There is no competition here.
Wow, you know, I can't believe I forgot to mention the moving raisin shit. I swear that scene kept me off of oatmeal for years as a child.
And...here's something I only noticed on this viewing. Lane's brother does not have a single line of dialogue in the whole flick. Huh.
I am with you on your overall analysis, but look (and you know I love you) Demi Moore, the "random person popping up" shouldn't be the main character. Here are two people you forgot to mention from OCS:
1.) Donald Li. You might not remember him, but he played the journalist sidekick, Eddie Lee, in John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China, a movie which should have a tag team post put up about it as the absolute culmination of everything perfect about movies.
2.) Jeremy Piven. Who has been in a whopping 10 productions together and are also apparently best friends since they were in grade school together, one of them went to the other's parents acting school. I don't remember and don't have the time to look it up.
For BOD you have:
1.) Vincent Schiavelli as Ms. Guth Mentioned.
This next one is a clincher if you love sports:
2.) Randy Stoklos. If you don't follow Volleyball you are now thinking, who the heck is that guy. (or if you are funny you are saying, "NOBODY KNOWS WHO THAT IS REEGE!") But Randy Stoklos is to volleyball what Michael Jordan is to basketball. He won a gold medal at the olympics and he played professional beach volleyball, and was whooping peoples' asses until he was in his 40s the guy is a stud.
Personally I think any movie featuring a character from a John Carpenter movie gets the edge, but you have Eddie Lee versus, RANDY FREAKING STOKLOS!
Edge: Push.
NOW PAT PIG!
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