Loser Details

Teen films often plumb the depths of good taste, but rarely do they hit rock bottom like this one. Outrage and amorality have long been staples of the genre — especially since the success of American Pie — but it's a fine line between chucklesome grossness and unfunny crassness. Date-rape drugs and under-age sex are just two of the areas mined for so-called mirth as callow country kid Jason Biggs desperately bids to be accepted by his boorish, boozy and sex-obsessed roommates at a big-city college. Meanwhile, college professor Greg Kinnear is having an affair with struggling student — and the love of his life — Mena Suvari. Although the film is slickly made and adequately acted, with American beauty Suvari proving she not only looks good but can act as well, the surface style can't mask the fact that Loser leaves a very nasty taste in the mouth.

"...Ms. Heckerling [balances the film's] dark satirical tone with a lively lightheartedness....A brave and sincere effort..."