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Loser
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
"Loser" is a rare movie. I went from laughing with it, to laughing at it, to hating it, to enjoying it and cringing at it. I had a whole range of emotions with this film, which changed every few minutes. I liked it, I hated it, and back again. There's a good movie buried deep with the often messy one that's on-screen here, and possibly a really good movie. But the final product is a different story.
Jason Biggs ("American Pie") plays Paul, a nice, small-town guy who gets a scholarship to a school in New York City. He arrives in the big city to find that well, no one seems to like him. His roommates are excessively mean to him (one even tells Paul that nobody likes him) and take advantage of his kindness. He meets Dora (Mena Suvari, from "American Beauty") in his first class, and falls for her quickly. The only problem is that she's dating the professor, who, like most people in this movie, is a real jerk.
Things get worse for both characters as Paul moves into the back room of an animal hospital and Dora loses her job as a strip-club waitress. The two are supposed to go to a concert together(more on that in a moment), but he ends up saving her when she's drugged.(wait, wasn't this a comedy?). The film shows a particular band and not only gives them a product placement, but a mini-infomercial. In director Amy Heckerling's "Clueless", she used the Mighty Mighty Bosstones perfectly in a party scene. Here, the film stops a couple of times to practically promote the band in question.
The film uses music not because it's right for the film, but because it's popular. This is certainly not the first teen film to do that, though. There is a good movie buried here - Biggs and Suvari are cute together. Get rid of all of the crap(sorry, but that's literally what this is). Get rid of the roommates, get rid of the professor(lamely played by Greg Kinnear), get rid of the soundtrack. Keep the college setting(make it realistic) and set these two out in New York City. There's certainly enough there to fill the running time with things that the two could see and do.
Heckerling scored with "Clueless", but "Loser" is just a fair effort. The funniest thing in the movie is not from the leads, but from a David Spade cameo midway through. Spade walks on as a video store clerk who describes "Simon Birch" as the perfect date movie. But anyways, there could have been re-working to "Loser" to make it better; they could also have reworked the entire film from the base to make it possibly great.
The DVD
VIDEO: Nothing out of the usual from Tristar, who rarely provides a less-than-pleasing effort in terms of image quality. "Loser", if not a great movie, at least has some nice visuals of New York City, which look great on this presentation from Tristar. Sharpness is very good, except for a couple of scenes which look slightly soft. Detail and clarity are consistently good, as well. Even dark and dimly lit scenes look well defined and not murky.
Colors are great, looking lively and natural, especially during a lot of the outdoor scenes. Although the majority is consistent with the level of strong image quality that Tristar has become known for, "Loser" doesn't escape without a few noticable flaws. During a few scenes there is some noticable shimmering, and on a couple of occasions, there are a couple of minor print flaws in the form of a handful of minor marks. Full-frame or widescreen version can be chosen from the menu.
SOUND: "Loser" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and suffers a bit from the usual "comedy" presentation. In other words, the great majority of the audio comes from the front, and is mainly dialogue-focused. Above that, the soundtrack is crowded with popular teen-rock songs that sound good, but don't particularly fit in that well. There really isn't that much in the way of surround use, with few exceptions - such as the concert at about 42 minutes into the movie. Dialogue is clear, natural and easily heard. Fine audio quality, but not a very active presentation.
MENUS:: Menus are non-animated, with very basic images serving as backgrounds.
EXTRAS: Trailers for "Loser", "Whatever It Takes", "As Good As It Gets" and "Can't Hardly Wait"; talent files; Wheatus "Teenage Dirtbag" music video and an a decent 4 1/2 minute promotional featurette.
Final Thoughts: Although not a total "Loser", "Loser" isn't as good as it could have been. Tristar provides good audio/video quality, but not much in the way of extras. Maybe worth a rental for fans of teen movies.
"Loser" is a rare movie. I went from laughing with it, to laughing at it, to hating it, to enjoying it and cringing at it. I had a whole range of emotions with this film, which changed every few minutes. I liked it, I hated it, and back again. There's a good movie buried deep with the often messy one that's on-screen here, and possibly a really good movie. But the final product is a different story.
Jason Biggs ("American Pie") plays Paul, a nice, small-town guy who gets a scholarship to a school in New York City. He arrives in the big city to find that well, no one seems to like him. His roommates are excessively mean to him (one even tells Paul that nobody likes him) and take advantage of his kindness. He meets Dora (Mena Suvari, from "American Beauty") in his first class, and falls for her quickly. The only problem is that she's dating the professor, who, like most people in this movie, is a real jerk.
Things get worse for both characters as Paul moves into the back room of an animal hospital and Dora loses her job as a strip-club waitress. The two are supposed to go to a concert together(more on that in a moment), but he ends up saving her when she's drugged.(wait, wasn't this a comedy?). The film shows a particular band and not only gives them a product placement, but a mini-infomercial. In director Amy Heckerling's "Clueless", she used the Mighty Mighty Bosstones perfectly in a party scene. Here, the film stops a couple of times to practically promote the band in question.
The film uses music not because it's right for the film, but because it's popular. This is certainly not the first teen film to do that, though. There is a good movie buried here - Biggs and Suvari are cute together. Get rid of all of the crap(sorry, but that's literally what this is). Get rid of the roommates, get rid of the professor(lamely played by Greg Kinnear), get rid of the soundtrack. Keep the college setting(make it realistic) and set these two out in New York City. There's certainly enough there to fill the running time with things that the two could see and do.
Heckerling scored with "Clueless", but "Loser" is just a fair effort. The funniest thing in the movie is not from the leads, but from a David Spade cameo midway through. Spade walks on as a video store clerk who describes "Simon Birch" as the perfect date movie. But anyways, there could have been re-working to "Loser" to make it better; they could also have reworked the entire film from the base to make it possibly great.
The DVD
VIDEO: Nothing out of the usual from Tristar, who rarely provides a less-than-pleasing effort in terms of image quality. "Loser", if not a great movie, at least has some nice visuals of New York City, which look great on this presentation from Tristar. Sharpness is very good, except for a couple of scenes which look slightly soft. Detail and clarity are consistently good, as well. Even dark and dimly lit scenes look well defined and not murky.
Colors are great, looking lively and natural, especially during a lot of the outdoor scenes. Although the majority is consistent with the level of strong image quality that Tristar has become known for, "Loser" doesn't escape without a few noticable flaws. During a few scenes there is some noticable shimmering, and on a couple of occasions, there are a couple of minor print flaws in the form of a handful of minor marks. Full-frame or widescreen version can be chosen from the menu.
SOUND: "Loser" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and suffers a bit from the usual "comedy" presentation. In other words, the great majority of the audio comes from the front, and is mainly dialogue-focused. Above that, the soundtrack is crowded with popular teen-rock songs that sound good, but don't particularly fit in that well. There really isn't that much in the way of surround use, with few exceptions - such as the concert at about 42 minutes into the movie. Dialogue is clear, natural and easily heard. Fine audio quality, but not a very active presentation.
MENUS:: Menus are non-animated, with very basic images serving as backgrounds.
EXTRAS: Trailers for "Loser", "Whatever It Takes", "As Good As It Gets" and "Can't Hardly Wait"; talent files; Wheatus "Teenage Dirtbag" music video and an a decent 4 1/2 minute promotional featurette.
Final Thoughts: Although not a total "Loser", "Loser" isn't as good as it could have been. Tristar provides good audio/video quality, but not much in the way of extras. Maybe worth a rental for fans of teen movies.
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