Loser

Amy Heckerling's latest teen comedy, 'Loser', is an old-fashioned charmer where nice guys finish first, sweet girls end up making the right choices, and pushy 'users' get their just desserts! Perhaps nobility is passe in films today, but 'Loser' makes a great case for working class heroes who succeed by 'doing the right thing'.

Paul Tannek (Jason Biggs) is a farm boy who wins a scholarship to a college in New York City. Bright, awkward, and shy, and possessing the worst haircut since Adam Sandler's in 'Little Nicky', he accepts his family's celebration of his success with embarrassment, and a fear of failure, but his father (Dan Aykroyd, who is wonderful in his brief scenes) offers simple advice: "Listen to people, look them in the eye. Be a friend, and you'll succeed."

Cut to New York City (which has never looked more beautiful), and Paul's worst fears are coming true. His dress is ridiculed, his roommates are 'too cool' jerks who take advantage of him while dissing him, and his instructors, particularly Professor Alcott (Greg Kinnear, at his smarmiest!) snub him imperiously. Paul is lonely and frustrated, which makes a simple act of kindness by fellow student Dora Diamond (Mena Suvari, in her best performance, to date) take on special significance to him. Diamond is a kindred spirit, although she has been manipulated into believing Professor Alcott loves her, and has become his clandestine lover.

As both of their lives take downward turns (he gets thrown out of his dorm, she loses her waitress job), they develop a platonic friendship (he is far too much a gentleman to attempt to break up a relationship!), and the film becomes a game of guessing when these two terrific people will realize they belong together!

'Loser' features a lot of very funny cameos, by Andy Dick, David Spade, Andrea Martin, Colleen Camp, many others, and, to Heckerling's credit, these 'guests' never detract from the positive message of the film.

This makes a great date movie (particularly if your date loves kittens!), and is a 'feel-good' flick you can enjoy again and again! I loved it, and I think you will, too!

I watched this movie when I was 12 and it has been one of my favorites ever since!!

Well here we go... another teen/young adult college comedy coming your way, spiced up with a little romance, the usual boy-meets-girl-falls-in-love-but-she's-already-with-someone storyline, and that's really all there is to tell, aside from a few notable college pranks that kinda make you wonder what _you_ did with your time back then...

The acting is alright, teen-movie poster child Jason Biggs as the "Loser" delivers well, Greg Kinnear does a great job in his role as the slick, uppity, self-important, boneheaded college professor with a dirty little secret.... an let's not forget the one and only true reason why this movie just might be for you after all: Mena Suvari!! (Yes folks, I gotta admit that I, for one, will never find true happiness until one fine day I'll get to be with somebody like her.) Cute as ever, she gives a standout performance as the sweet, attitude-laden little grunge girl. Really something to see!

As for the rest of the movie, it's more like "same old, same old..." - if you like Mena Suvari, you're bound to love it, but otherwise, not that I'd tell you not to bother, but just don't expect to be too thrilled because it's really all been done before (and some of it actually by none other than Jason Biggs in some of his better-known flicks).

Unfairly condemned by the critics, this movie worked for me as a comedy and as a somewhat dark look at the mores of college life. Our hero may be branded a loser, but he's definitely a believable three-dimensional character (with a heart of gold, naturally). The story takes for granted some unethical and potentially unsettling behaviour, and allows the characters to rise above it.

Lets you smile throughout, and gives you some insights into contemporary life on campus without resorting to cliches.

I have always been the outsider as a teenager (why do you think I have hundreds of movies on my comment list), so I can relate to this film. Not because I have gone to a college from a far off land and am not familiar with the area. But because I have always known what It's like to not always get the girl, always to be alone and to have such low self-esteem you make eeyore from Winnie the Pooh look like Richard Simmons. So I can sympathize. But saying did I like the entire movie, no. Because the main heroine (Mena Suvari) knows who is the right one in her life (her choices are the teen Jason Biggs and a married professor Greg Kinnear) and takes too long to find out who the right one is (I am not revealing who that is). While she and Biggs are likeable characters, they also make dumb choices in the dating game. Sort of like Boys and Girls which came out last month. Yet, I can reccomend this film to teen film fans, Everclear fans, or fans of writer/director/co-producer Amy Heckerling's work (she is of Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Clueless fame). Just don't go into it looking for a way to find better love. B+