Main cast: Jason Biggs (Paul Tannek), Mena Suvari (Dora Diamond), Greg Kinnear (Edward Alcott), Zak Orth (Adam), Tom Sadoski (Chris), Jimmi Simpson (Noah), Bobby Slayton (Sal), and Dan Aykroyd (Mr Tannek)
Director: Amy Heckerling

One thing good about Loser: this movie doesn’t reduce its teen characters into caricatures. The tale of college students finding love is the theme here.

Small-town Paul receives a scholarship to study in New York, but upon arrival, he is heckled mercilessly by his roommates for being dorky. He meets fellow loser Dora who donates her eggs to finance her study. Dora, unfortunately, is in love with Edward, her professor who uses her mercilessly but treats her like dirt. Paul loves her, and maybe she loves him. Oh dear.

Thing is, I lose patience very fast with this thing because, while Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari make a pretty couple on screen (don’t we wish losers look just like them?), the script does them a big disservice. For all of their well-touted intelligence, they end up as morons instead. Dora’s the worst: frankly, any woman that stupid as to keep holding out for a one-dimensional sleaze like Edward deserves the pain she gets for her stupidity. These two young people want acceptance at one moment, then they want to be left alone. Well, which is it?

Of course, one’s late teenage years can be a troublesome time, but there’s no excuse for staying in lots of emotional turmoils, most self-inflicted, just to sulk prettily at the screen. Loser? Well, in this case, I’m afraid Dora and Paul are just that.