“Savage” Steve Holland directed one of the most beloved comedies of the 1980s, a decade practically defined by its many comedy classics, with Better Off Dead, an eccentric and smart film starring John Cusack as a teenager who turns suicidal when his girlfriend leaves him. Holland immediately went on to direct another well-liked movie starring Cusack, One Crazy Summer, but he hasn’t released a proper feature film (we’re going to be polite and pretend the barely released National Lampoon’s Ratko: The Dictator’s Son never happened) since 1989. Until now.
Variety is reporting that “Savage” Steve Holland will return with Multiplexing, a comedy about teenagers working at a small town movie theater chosen to be the site of a major Hollywood premiere. Considering that Holland’s movie career skipped the 1990s completely – he’s been working on TV series like “Eek! The Cat,” “V.I.P.” and “Zoey 101” for the last 25 years – it seems apropos that Multiplexing sounds like it belongs on a VHS shelf right next to Empire Records and Clerks.
Better Off Dead is a comedy classic (recently declared one of the Best Valentine’s Day Movies Ever by CraveOnline, no less), so we hope that Holland’s unique blend of surrealism and naive charm has been properly gestating for the last two-and-a-half decades. We’ll find out soon enough: Multiplexing is already scheduled to begin filming this summer.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
