Considering how endless the supply of horny teenager movies was in the '80s, it's not surprising when actors who would become big stars turn up in them. Consider Johnny Depp in Private Resort and Tom Hanks in Bachelor Party. Oh, and Tim Robbins in Fraternity Vacation and Kevin Bacon in Animal House. Rarer is a director who would go onto bigger and better things, which is what we have here. Curtis Hanson won hearts and minds over ten years after this film about teenagers trying to lose their virginity when he made LA Confidential, and later, 8 Mile.
Losin' It is a lot better made than the majority of teen sex movies, but that is not saying a whole lot. Most of them were clearly turned out as quickly and cheaply as possible; it was not uncommon for the boom mic to make several uncredited appearances in these movies, and the lack of budget showed in other ways, like very few inner location shots: the characters may be in high school or college, but we'd rarely see the inside of a classroom.
So while Losin' It has a much better director, better actors and a better budget... it really doesn't have that much going for it. There's the usual fast talking, utterly sex (and Frank Sinatra) obsessed teen, played by Jackie Earle Haley, and the also usual shy, more sensitive teen, played by Tom Cruise. There's also the sullen and aggressive Spider, played by John Stockwell, and Haley's mercenary younger brother, who joins them on their trip to Tijuana to buy illegal firecrackers he can sell across the border.
They get into the usual hijinks involving hookers, cops, and trying to hit on the wrong girls. There's also an older woman who comes along for the ride to get divorced - can you guess which of the guys mentioned above she falls for?
I wasn't that interested in the exploits of these characters, clichéd and simplistic as they were, past the halfway mark, but at least they spent time on the inside of buildings other than the director's house, and the boom mic didn't keep mugging for attention.
Losin' It is a lot better made than the majority of teen sex movies, but that is not saying a whole lot. Most of them were clearly turned out as quickly and cheaply as possible; it was not uncommon for the boom mic to make several uncredited appearances in these movies, and the lack of budget showed in other ways, like very few inner location shots: the characters may be in high school or college, but we'd rarely see the inside of a classroom.
So while Losin' It has a much better director, better actors and a better budget... it really doesn't have that much going for it. There's the usual fast talking, utterly sex (and Frank Sinatra) obsessed teen, played by Jackie Earle Haley, and the also usual shy, more sensitive teen, played by Tom Cruise. There's also the sullen and aggressive Spider, played by John Stockwell, and Haley's mercenary younger brother, who joins them on their trip to Tijuana to buy illegal firecrackers he can sell across the border.
They get into the usual hijinks involving hookers, cops, and trying to hit on the wrong girls. There's also an older woman who comes along for the ride to get divorced - can you guess which of the guys mentioned above she falls for?
I wasn't that interested in the exploits of these characters, clichéd and simplistic as they were, past the halfway mark, but at least they spent time on the inside of buildings other than the director's house, and the boom mic didn't keep mugging for attention.