Day 42 -- Loser

Released: July 21st, 2000

Starring: Jason Biggs, Mena Suvari, Greg Kinnear

Writer/Director: Amy Heckerling

Description: A college student, branded a loser by his roommates and booted from the dorm, falls in love with a coed who has eyes for their professor.

[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]

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Remember that time when Jason Biggs was a comedy star? No. Are you under 18? Yes. Well, that explains it. Believe it or not, Biggs made five comedies in a row between 1999 and 2001, and was one of the most visible actor under 25. But as quickly as his fame rose, it fell even faster. Luckily, he found a nice niche out of the spotlight, and has become a respectable comedic actor.

"Loser" is the one movie from this time period that got lost in the shuffle. The plot is your basic late 90s young adult romantic comedy. A lot of sexual humor, along with drug and alcohol use. The "unique" element of this is Biggs plays Paul, a "loser" who is not ready for life in the big city, and falls in love with the emotionally unstable girl, but unfortunately for him, she's dating their professor. You know, that old story.

After being screwed over by his slacker roommates and watching Nora (Suvari) run back to the predator professor, Paul contemplates leaving, but apparently ends up staying and getting a hair cut instead. As you probably guessed, Paul ends the film with Nora because these movies need a happy ending, and it was made by Amy Heckerling, so this was only natural. It even had that cheesy montage before the end credits where it tells you what happened to each character in a "humorous" way. Note to filmmakers, these are not necessary, let your story stand on it's own, and also, they are never funny; even Mallrats' were unnecessary.

There are many reasons that "Loser" is never brought up when people discuss comedies of this time period. It is very bland and the story is even more predictable than normal. I can only imagine Heckerling was able to make this film due to her reputation from "Clueless" because the two couldn't be further apart in terms of quality. Every discovery made by the characters are telegraphed so far in advance that the audience know what they will do 10 to 15 scenes before they occur. It's lazy and appalling.

The only thing that kept me intrigued was that the movie was a flashback to a time in my life that I remember vividly. I'm quite sure I even took a girlfriend to see this movie. I know, I know, but I was only 14, so cut me a break. Everything in the movie from the music, to the clothes, to the video store full of VHS (What's that?) tapes, bring me back to the beginning of high school. While the quality of the film isn't the same, I imagine it's the same feeling that people who grew up in the 80s have when they what a John Hughes film. "Loser" along with "American Pie", "She's All That", and "Varsity Blues" recall a time before student loans; ah, I miss those times.

To their credit, Biggs and Suvari have a lot of chemistry on screen and rise above the rest of the slop that surrounds them. Suvari is one of those actresses that I have always considered pretty and talented, and wondered why she didn't get more mainstream work. Biggs is Biggs, and he's good being the naive nerd, but he needs a superior script to not seem bland. The rest of the cast sit on a scale ranging from awful (Jimmi Simpson) to meh (Greg Kinnear), and really don't add anything to the movie.

"Loser" was a YA rom-com that was forced through to capitalize on the "American Pie" audience before it matured. The producers even tried to double down by enlisting Heckerling to write and direct the feature, which turned out to be a terrible mistake. Sometimes even with all of the right ingredients in place, the meal still comes out tasting like crap.

Rating: 5/10 -- Nostalgia factor is really the only reason I would tune into this, and that is even fleeting. Suvari in her prime was nice as well, and the scenes between her and Biggs are the films highlights. Should only be watch as a comparison to convince someone how good of a film "American Pie" was in its time.