There's a little of [John Cusack]'s [Lane Myer] in most of us - a guy who fantasizes about ceasing to exist when he can't face life without his heart's desire. By playing for giggles his inept attempts to kill himself, "Better Off Dead" stops short of going over the edge of farce into sick humor. Yet, by making a fool of him until the finale, it confirms for the viewer the judgment of Lane's peers that he's a jerk. The last time we saw a kid with a death wish as the stuff of comedy was Bud Cort in "Harold And Maude," a superior film with more interesting pacing and imaginative plot twists.

Mom's cooking, for example, is one of the running gags. Mrs. Myer is a dingbat whose culinary specialties include green glop that slithers off the plate and across the table under its own power. Lane's kid brother, a mail-order hobbyist, introduces another level of cartoon surrealism into the Myer household with the periodic arrival of his do-it-yourself kits and manuals. With one kit, he constructs a laser gun from kitchen utensils. With a book in plain wrapper, he conjures up a bedroomfull of trashy women to party with on New Year's Eve.