Review of Loser (2000) by Nathan E — 12 Jul 2010

Spoilers abound.

Just saw this movie for the first time last night and I kept telling myself the same thing: It was a shame that it couldn't have been done with a bit more finesse. The movie came out in 2000, marking the end of the late 1990's resurgence of the 'teen movie'. Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari were both coming off of the hot success of the first American Pie and both should have been poised for another hit. The ingredients were all there for a decent summer teen rom-com.

Instead, we got Loser.

Now, in my opinion, it isn't that the film is actually all that BAD, it just isn't GOOD. It falls into the strange grey ether that is OK, where it suffers the mortal wound of being completely forgettable.

Let's look at the bad of this film first, and just get that out of the way. As another reviewer put it, the film doesn't seem to be able to decide if it wants to be a comedy or a drama. On one hand, you've got small town Paul (Jason Biggs) who manages to snag himself a scholarship to NYU. So it's a little fish in a really big, very strange, pond. That's funny. He meets a girl, named Dora (Mena Suvari), who has a bit of a secret. She's in a relationship with their pretentious European Literature professor, Alcott (Greg Kinnear). That has potential to be funny, however, it also has real potential to drag the film into the realm of serious. So, while she's dealing with her love affair, Paul is dealing with his three idiot roommates who only care about partying. That could be funny, except then it turns out that the three roommates are slipping girls date-rape drugs.

So, are we watching a lighthearted comedy, or an after-school special?

The thing is, they never even tried to play it off as a dark comedy, which it may have worked as. They just kept straddling the fence, which leaves the audience wondering what they're supposed to be feeling.

Early on in the film, we get a glimpse into the dynamics of the Dora character. She works at a bar and is offended by the idea of purposely giving someone wrong change. "But, that's stealing!".

Later on, she steals some bread. Thing is, it's not because she's homeless, because she's with Paul and he's got thirty bucks on him, it's because she feels like being adventurous.

That's all well and good.

Except that you just contradicted what your character's principles are.

Now, since we've gotten the bad out of the way, let's talk about the good, however little there may be.

Greg Kinnear nails the part of the ridiculously pretentious professor. The guy just oozes self-entitlement and from his second scene on, you just hate the guy. A fantastic antagonist.

In a way, he makes up for the three schmuck roommates. Yes, they're obnoxious, looking like poster children for an early-metrosexual movement, but they do straddle that fence between goofy idiots and real threats when they begin to drug girls at a party. It's kind of left up in the air as to whether or not they raped Dora.

So, they don't really work.

Jason Biggs' character is actually likable, even if his naivety is a bit hard to believe. I just wish that they had focused a bit more on what it was like for his small-town character to be living in New York and what challenges he faced. I feel like it was just sort of breezed over.

Mena Suvari is likable enough as the typical free-spirt sort of girl, wearing all black and being a misanthrope. It's a bit of a clichéd archetype, but she does it fairly well.

Yes, I rooted for the two main characters to get together (because that's what you do with a rom-com), but when they finally did, it felt rushed. They're kissing and, the movie's over. There was no build-up towards the end, it just fell flat.

I didn't buy into it. I felt like the writers just got lazy.

So would I recommend it?

Only if you can't find a copy of American Pie.