Charming But Predictable
Added 9/25/2009
Paul (Jason Biggs) is a small town doofus who finds himself out of his element when he moves to New York to attend college. A combination of horrible style choices and his unfamiliarity with different cultures doesn't earn him many friends. Sharing a dorm with three party animals (including Zak Orth and Jimmi Simspon), Paul is troubled by the late hours they keep and the language they speak. For example, this is how Orth informs Paul they're having pizza for dinner: "We're ordering 'za, slap me a big head." Obviously writer/director Amy Heckerling is trying to recapture the cutting edge teen slang she showcased in 'Clueless', but her efforts seem like a forced attempt to replicate that film's hipness. This isn't the only problem plaguing the film however. Paul meets a free spirited girl named Dora (Mena Suvari) in his English class. He's attracted to her but too shy to strike up a conversation. It is soon revealed that Dora is sleeping with their professor (Greg Kinnear). When Paul learns this he still tries to win her over in ways that are ridiculous since a major part of the film is how broke him and Dora are. Paul blows his monthly savings on concert tickets to impress her and then buys her flowers but puts the professor's name on the card instead. It's typical romantic comedy crap that makes the film a chore to get through. You know Dora is going to come to her senses and realize what a great guy Paul is and how wrong the professor is for her. It's just that you have to wait for her to realize it which takes nearly the whole movie to get to that logical conclusion. When things do move in that direction so many coincidences occur one right after the other that the film is neither fun nor believable anymore. Biggs and Suvari are both talented actors and likable personalities so they work even when the material doesn't. Kinnear plays a jerk very well as his professor is such a self centered jerk you wonder why Dora is submissive towards him. The funnest performances come from Orth and Simpson as Paul's party monster roommates who do some shocking things to him and others. It's kind of a cute film with great work from the leads but it's too predictable and tedious to be a good movie.
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Loser DVD
Added 4/21/2009
Terrific movie! This movie is old and out of circulation, but Amazon had it in stock and at at a great price.
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NOT WHAT I EXPECTED....LOSER IS DARK BELOW THE SURFACE!
Added 3/8/2009
I had never heard of this film before now, but looking at the cast credits figure it was worth checking out. 'Loser' is far less the misfit school comedy I expected and more of a romantic comedy with a dark undertone. The film really doesn't play up the belly laughs, a more mean spirited tone to the usual high-jinks. Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari deliver more 3 dimensional characters than most films of this nature. This slightly twisted love story is worth a look.
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One of my favorite movies...
Added 12/27/2008
I am not sure why this movie didn't get that many stars. I think it's great! It is definitely a feel-good flick, one that will lift you up whenever you are feeling blue. It's cute, it's funny, and the actors are great. Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari were really popular actors back in the late 90's, and they are so great together in this film. Don't miss out, give it a chance!
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I'm a Loser, Baby!
Added 1/2/2008
I like Amy Heckerling's approach a lot. The story line in her movies really doesn't matter much, it's the characters she builds that make her movies worthwhile and deserving of repeated viewings.
I just saw this flick again a few days ago (for about the 3rd time over the years) and I noticed things about the main and supporting characters I had not seen previously. The roommates are some of the greatest parodies on college ne'er-do-wells I've ever seen. And Professor Alcott is more deliciously evil the more you watch this movie.
I went to college a long time ago, but there are elements of the bad characters that do exist I remember, thankfully not so concentrated around one poor guy, but hey movies need to compress things.
The spoiled, self-centered, immoral, rationalizing roomies are hilarious and allow me to laugh even now about some of the stupid attitudes & affectations the "in crowd" had when I was in school. Their desperate clinging to the latest "cool" thing is very well done... look carefully at how glammed out these idiots are and think of how much time and effort some people spend trying to be hip and it just ends up making them look like complete a-holes to pretty much everyone including the people they are trying to impress.
So anyway, don't watch Amy Heckerling's movies for story or plot. Watch for the memorable characters (Spicoli, Cher, Professor Alcott, etc) and try not to act like them in real life or at least use them for comic relief when you encounter some their traits in others.
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