Why don't nice guys like that exist in real life? Or maybe they do and are just overshadowed by the nasty ones. Either way, it's a travesty.
I caught this movie on a late-night rerun, and it wasn't exactly what I expected. When I first saw Jason Biggs, I dreaded another 'American Pie'-type teen movie. My main complaint with the 'American Pie' series is that they rely a lot on crude, slapstick humour and placing their characters in wholly unrealistic situations to get a laugh.
Surprisingly, not so in 'Loser'. The humour was more subtle, nuanced, with no proverbial big red flashing signs saying "THIS IS A FUNNY PART, LAUGH HERE". It was more genuine, gentle and affective - yes I mean affective with an a. We laugh empathetically because we know what he's going through, not because he gets caught with his hand glued to his penis.
There are complaints that this movie is somewhat unrealistic, and I agree that the background characters (mainly Paul's dorm mates and the Professor) are pretty one-dimensional at times, but they're the support cast. They're just there to effect (yes, with an e) and support the storyline. Jason Biggs did pretty all right as the nice country boy lost in the nastiness of the city, and Mena Suvari's character complemented his nicely as the girl who makes all the wrong decisions, but is really trying to find her way. And besides, I think it's sad that this movie is considered to be unrealistic because the main character is so nice. Really shows what kind of world we live in if we consider niceness to be unrealistic.
Overall, it was enjoyable, not very complex... a movie you'd watch to wind down from a busy day, or on a rainy evening with nothing to do.
I caught this movie on a late-night rerun, and it wasn't exactly what I expected. When I first saw Jason Biggs, I dreaded another 'American Pie'-type teen movie. My main complaint with the 'American Pie' series is that they rely a lot on crude, slapstick humour and placing their characters in wholly unrealistic situations to get a laugh.
Surprisingly, not so in 'Loser'. The humour was more subtle, nuanced, with no proverbial big red flashing signs saying "THIS IS A FUNNY PART, LAUGH HERE". It was more genuine, gentle and affective - yes I mean affective with an a. We laugh empathetically because we know what he's going through, not because he gets caught with his hand glued to his penis.
There are complaints that this movie is somewhat unrealistic, and I agree that the background characters (mainly Paul's dorm mates and the Professor) are pretty one-dimensional at times, but they're the support cast. They're just there to effect (yes, with an e) and support the storyline. Jason Biggs did pretty all right as the nice country boy lost in the nastiness of the city, and Mena Suvari's character complemented his nicely as the girl who makes all the wrong decisions, but is really trying to find her way. And besides, I think it's sad that this movie is considered to be unrealistic because the main character is so nice. Really shows what kind of world we live in if we consider niceness to be unrealistic.
Overall, it was enjoyable, not very complex... a movie you'd watch to wind down from a busy day, or on a rainy evening with nothing to do.