Hey folks, Harry here with a look at Amy Heckerling's (she's the director responsible for CLUELESS) latest endeavor LOSER, which we here from the Cat is an 'ok' movie that just isn't all that memorable. Now... Before you get into the review, you should know that this is a VERY early screening... Release is July 7th, so there is still plenty of nipping and tucking to be done, as well as reshoot time. The final soundtrack has... most likely not been committed to the film yet, and on Teenage films... that's monumentally important. So... Until it has it's LOSER anthem song... or whatever... It might be a lackluster film that could be more. So... read with the knowledge that it can be made better by the process. An OK movie can be a lot better... take care... here's the Cat...
Hi Harry,
Did you know that you keep getting really scary make-up? Why is it that I never notice these things and then all of a sudden...WHAM! The little Harry changes! Wow! Okay, well anyway, I went to a test screening the other night in Agoura Hills, CA. They were showing Amy Heckerling's new film "Loser." It starred Jason Bigs (from American Pie) as, Paul, a "loser" college student who falls in love with troubled college girl Dora Diamond (played by Mena Suvari from American Beauty). Well, all in all it was a silly teen romance movie, with nothing too funny and nothing new to add to the typical love story. Dora is college student who is (quite obviously, although she is too naive to notice) being used by her literature professor (played by Greg Kinnear) in a relationship. On top of sleeping with her professor, Dora is commuting to school from home and unable to make enough money to pay for tuition. She works in a strip club, serving drinks, to make money, but eventually gets fired after refusing to sleep with her boss.
In the meantime, Paul is living with some horrible roommates who drinks and smoke all day and night, preventing him from studying to gain the grades he needs to keep his merit college scholarship. What does all of this lead into...some not so hilarious comedy as Paul becomes more and more social, proving that he is not a loser and Dora comes to the realization that she is being used. Naturally, the two fall in love and their romantic-camera-swirling-around-them-in-circles-kiss in the last scene of the film is supposed to solve all of their problems. The main problem with this film is that there is nothing very funny or original within it. All the characters seem like stereotypes from bad television commercials. Everyone is too clean and too surface level to actually be funny. Oh yeah, and as if this movie wasn't enough of a stereotypical teen flick, it has an Everclear concert tossed in, just in case you forgot what a typical teen film it was. Sadly, the best moments of the film were the tiny cameos made by Andy Dick and David Spade. "Loser" is a typical movie with nothing new, but it isn't anything too painful to watch, just predictable.
-The Cat
