Amy Heckerling already has two smart, high-energy takes on high school teens in her filmography, so it's disappointing that "Loser", which looks at teens in college, lacks those very qualities. This third film focusing on youth and popular culture -- following "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and "Clueless" -- never achieves a strong point of view and veers away from the one serious social issue it stumbles upon.
Her name and the names of two attractive and very much up-and-coming young actors, Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari, certainly provide the Columbia release with marquee value. The film should be a middle-range performer, drawing most of its audience from the 17-25 crowd.
The setting is a private New York City college for rich kids where the two protagonists are established as falling outside the hipster crowd. Biggs' Paul Tannek is very small-town. His geekiness is emphasized by a plaid hunter's hat, lame clothes and a need to study hard to maintain a scholarship.
Suvari's Dora Diamond is a diamond in the looks department, all right. But she must maintain a night job to make tuition, and her infatuation for a shallow and manipulative English professor (Greg Kinnear, clearly enjoying this turn as a nasty intellectual) places her off-limits to the male student body.
Where things go from here is all too predictable. The only slightly interesting kink to the plot development has Paul, after getting kicked out by his girl-chasing roommates, living in a veterinary hospital, which suddenly becomes the site for his ex-roomies' parties.
The mood is "romantic comedy lite" here. So it's startling when Heckerling, who also wrote the script, introduces an explosive social issue then fails to develop or deal with that issue. To get laid, Tannek's three ex-roomies scheme to slip knockout drugs into the drinks of young women. The subject of date-rape drugs not only jars with the movie's comic tone, but Heckerling fails to acknowledge the devastating impact such episodes have on women. It's just as inappropriate as dragging the Nazi Holocaust into the comic-book antics of last week's "X-Men".
Biggs and Suvari are hugely likable once again -- reuniting after last summer's hit "American Pie". While no Tracy and Hepburn yet, the duo produce enough sparks to actually work against the story line: Can't these two see they belong together?
The movie's biggest discovery, though, is the trio of truly despicable roommates. Tom Sadoski, reminding one of a young Steve Buscemi, has a smooth line delivery and makes an unmistakable impression on screen as a know-it-all who knows absolutely nothing. And Jimmi Simpson and Zak Orth each give a comic edge to outrageous amorality: Nothing they do, no matter how rotten, gives them the slightest qualm.
Together, the trio represent a new kind of college-movie "villain." In a genre where an egomaniacal athlete is traditionally the thorn in a college hero's side, these three demonstrate that pot-smoking, long-haired nerds can be just as odious.
Using a crew of long-time associates -- including cinematographer Rob Hahn, production designer Steven Jordan, costumer Mony May and editor Debra Chiate -- Heckerling has fabricated a sleek but unremarkable production using New York exteriors and Toronto interiors.
LOSER
Columbia Pictures
Producers: Amy Heckerling & Twink Caplan
Screenwriter-director: Amy Heckerling
Executive producer: John M. Eckert
Director of photography: Rob Hahn
Production designer: Steven Jordan
Music: David Kitay
Costume designer: Mona May
Editor: Debra Chiate
Color/stereo
Cast:
Paul Tannek: Jason Biggs
Dora Diamond: Mena Suvari
Adam: Zak Orth
Chris: Tom Sadoski
Noah: Jimmi Simpson
Professor Edward Alcott: Greg Kinnear
Dad: Dan Aykroyd
Gena: Twink Caplan
Running time - 98 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Her name and the names of two attractive and very much up-and-coming young actors, Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari, certainly provide the Columbia release with marquee value. The film should be a middle-range performer, drawing most of its audience from the 17-25 crowd.
The setting is a private New York City college for rich kids where the two protagonists are established as falling outside the hipster crowd. Biggs' Paul Tannek is very small-town. His geekiness is emphasized by a plaid hunter's hat, lame clothes and a need to study hard to maintain a scholarship.
Suvari's Dora Diamond is a diamond in the looks department, all right. But she must maintain a night job to make tuition, and her infatuation for a shallow and manipulative English professor (Greg Kinnear, clearly enjoying this turn as a nasty intellectual) places her off-limits to the male student body.
Where things go from here is all too predictable. The only slightly interesting kink to the plot development has Paul, after getting kicked out by his girl-chasing roommates, living in a veterinary hospital, which suddenly becomes the site for his ex-roomies' parties.
The mood is "romantic comedy lite" here. So it's startling when Heckerling, who also wrote the script, introduces an explosive social issue then fails to develop or deal with that issue. To get laid, Tannek's three ex-roomies scheme to slip knockout drugs into the drinks of young women. The subject of date-rape drugs not only jars with the movie's comic tone, but Heckerling fails to acknowledge the devastating impact such episodes have on women. It's just as inappropriate as dragging the Nazi Holocaust into the comic-book antics of last week's "X-Men".
Biggs and Suvari are hugely likable once again -- reuniting after last summer's hit "American Pie". While no Tracy and Hepburn yet, the duo produce enough sparks to actually work against the story line: Can't these two see they belong together?
The movie's biggest discovery, though, is the trio of truly despicable roommates. Tom Sadoski, reminding one of a young Steve Buscemi, has a smooth line delivery and makes an unmistakable impression on screen as a know-it-all who knows absolutely nothing. And Jimmi Simpson and Zak Orth each give a comic edge to outrageous amorality: Nothing they do, no matter how rotten, gives them the slightest qualm.
Together, the trio represent a new kind of college-movie "villain." In a genre where an egomaniacal athlete is traditionally the thorn in a college hero's side, these three demonstrate that pot-smoking, long-haired nerds can be just as odious.
Using a crew of long-time associates -- including cinematographer Rob Hahn, production designer Steven Jordan, costumer Mony May and editor Debra Chiate -- Heckerling has fabricated a sleek but unremarkable production using New York exteriors and Toronto interiors.
LOSER
Columbia Pictures
Producers: Amy Heckerling & Twink Caplan
Screenwriter-director: Amy Heckerling
Executive producer: John M. Eckert
Director of photography: Rob Hahn
Production designer: Steven Jordan
Music: David Kitay
Costume designer: Mona May
Editor: Debra Chiate
Color/stereo
Cast:
Paul Tannek: Jason Biggs
Dora Diamond: Mena Suvari
Adam: Zak Orth
Chris: Tom Sadoski
Noah: Jimmi Simpson
Professor Edward Alcott: Greg Kinnear
Dad: Dan Aykroyd
Gena: Twink Caplan
Running time - 98 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 7/21/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
While "Never Been Kissed" isn't the first comedy about revisiting high school, it's the only one lucky enough to have Drew Barrymore in the lead.
A delightful, cringe-inducing trip back to one of the most awkward times in most people's lives -- except, perhaps, the captain of the football team and the head cheerleader -- the Fox release gets crowd-pleasing marks thanks largely to Barrymore's winning, fearlessly geeky performance.
Departing from traditional date-movie demos, "Kissed" should have men and women enthusiastically puckering up to big boxoffice effect.
Barrymore plays Josie Geller, a smart Chicago Sun-Times copy editor and charter member of the grammar police who's aching to have a Page 1 byline, not to mention her first real head-over-heels, toe-curling love affair.
She manages to get a shot at both thanks to an undercover assignment that has her returning to high school eight years after she graduated to report on the lives of today's teens.
Fear of being found out is significantly superseded by her terror of reliving a particularly painful adolescence. Not only was she a card-carrying, braces-wearing, first-class nerd, but her cruel classmates used to call her "Josie Grossie", a name incidentally coined by her cool brother Rob (David Arquette).
It appears history is about to repeat itself as Josie, eager to be accepted by any group, befriends the nice but geeky Aldys (Leelee Sobieski). Fortunately, thanks to a little push from her take-no-prisoners editor (Garry Marshall), the supportive presence of her cute and sensitive English teacher (Michael Vartan) and intervention from her brother, Josie ultimately prevails.
While the picture is essentially another Cinderella story for Barrymore, she makes it fresh thanks to her seemingly innocent ability to be thoroughly adorable without a trace of preciousness or cloying cuteness.
Her willingness to plumb the murkier depths of geekdom will have countless viewers squirming along with her when not laughing themselves silly.
She is surrounded by a very capable cast. Arquette puts in one of his most satisfying performances as her ever-popular brother. Sobieski, who could easily play Linda Hunt's kid sister, adeptly plays the part of the much-maligned overachiever who wears her glasses like a sheet of armor.
Also good is Marshall as Josie's big-stick-wielding editor; John C. Reilly as her weary, immediate boss; Molly Shannon as her guy-hungry co-worker; and Vartan as her smitten teacher.
Debuting screenwriters Abby Kohn & Marc Silverstein exhibit knowing comic promise, while editor-turned-director Raja Gosnell ("Home Alone 3") gives everything just-right, appealing weight.
Although some of the serious passages can get a little squishy in the dialogue department, including an exchange between Barrymore and Vartan that unintentionally conjures up the name Lolita, the situations generally ring all too true.
Behind-the-camera performances are across-the-board pleasing, including great song cues -- a bit of Madonna here, a slice of Pat Benatar there, a marching band wrestling with the opening strains of "The Simpsons" theme -- that neatly sum up the eternally surreal high school experience.
NEVER BEEN KISSED
20th Century Fox
Fox 2000 Pictures presents
A Flower Films/Bushawood Pictures production
Director: Raja Gosnell
Screenwriters: Abby Kohn & Marc Silverstein
Producers: Sandy Isaac, Nancy Juvonen
Executive producer: Drew Barrymore
Director of photography: Alex Nepomniaschy
Production designer: Steven Jordan
Editors: Debra Chiate, Marcelo Sansevieri
Costume designer: Mona May
Music: David Newman
Music supervisors: Mary Ramos-Oden & Michele Kuznetsky
Casting: Justine Baddeley & Kim Davis
Color/stereo
Cast:
Josie Geller: Drew Barrymore
Rob Geller: David Arquette
Anita: Molly Shannon
Gus: John C. Reilly
Rigfort: Garry Marshall
Sam Coulson: Michael Vartan
Aldys: Leelee Sobieski
Running time -- 107 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
A delightful, cringe-inducing trip back to one of the most awkward times in most people's lives -- except, perhaps, the captain of the football team and the head cheerleader -- the Fox release gets crowd-pleasing marks thanks largely to Barrymore's winning, fearlessly geeky performance.
Departing from traditional date-movie demos, "Kissed" should have men and women enthusiastically puckering up to big boxoffice effect.
Barrymore plays Josie Geller, a smart Chicago Sun-Times copy editor and charter member of the grammar police who's aching to have a Page 1 byline, not to mention her first real head-over-heels, toe-curling love affair.
She manages to get a shot at both thanks to an undercover assignment that has her returning to high school eight years after she graduated to report on the lives of today's teens.
Fear of being found out is significantly superseded by her terror of reliving a particularly painful adolescence. Not only was she a card-carrying, braces-wearing, first-class nerd, but her cruel classmates used to call her "Josie Grossie", a name incidentally coined by her cool brother Rob (David Arquette).
It appears history is about to repeat itself as Josie, eager to be accepted by any group, befriends the nice but geeky Aldys (Leelee Sobieski). Fortunately, thanks to a little push from her take-no-prisoners editor (Garry Marshall), the supportive presence of her cute and sensitive English teacher (Michael Vartan) and intervention from her brother, Josie ultimately prevails.
While the picture is essentially another Cinderella story for Barrymore, she makes it fresh thanks to her seemingly innocent ability to be thoroughly adorable without a trace of preciousness or cloying cuteness.
Her willingness to plumb the murkier depths of geekdom will have countless viewers squirming along with her when not laughing themselves silly.
She is surrounded by a very capable cast. Arquette puts in one of his most satisfying performances as her ever-popular brother. Sobieski, who could easily play Linda Hunt's kid sister, adeptly plays the part of the much-maligned overachiever who wears her glasses like a sheet of armor.
Also good is Marshall as Josie's big-stick-wielding editor; John C. Reilly as her weary, immediate boss; Molly Shannon as her guy-hungry co-worker; and Vartan as her smitten teacher.
Debuting screenwriters Abby Kohn & Marc Silverstein exhibit knowing comic promise, while editor-turned-director Raja Gosnell ("Home Alone 3") gives everything just-right, appealing weight.
Although some of the serious passages can get a little squishy in the dialogue department, including an exchange between Barrymore and Vartan that unintentionally conjures up the name Lolita, the situations generally ring all too true.
Behind-the-camera performances are across-the-board pleasing, including great song cues -- a bit of Madonna here, a slice of Pat Benatar there, a marching band wrestling with the opening strains of "The Simpsons" theme -- that neatly sum up the eternally surreal high school experience.
NEVER BEEN KISSED
20th Century Fox
Fox 2000 Pictures presents
A Flower Films/Bushawood Pictures production
Director: Raja Gosnell
Screenwriters: Abby Kohn & Marc Silverstein
Producers: Sandy Isaac, Nancy Juvonen
Executive producer: Drew Barrymore
Director of photography: Alex Nepomniaschy
Production designer: Steven Jordan
Editors: Debra Chiate, Marcelo Sansevieri
Costume designer: Mona May
Music: David Newman
Music supervisors: Mary Ramos-Oden & Michele Kuznetsky
Casting: Justine Baddeley & Kim Davis
Color/stereo
Cast:
Josie Geller: Drew Barrymore
Rob Geller: David Arquette
Anita: Molly Shannon
Gus: John C. Reilly
Rigfort: Garry Marshall
Sam Coulson: Michael Vartan
Aldys: Leelee Sobieski
Running time -- 107 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 3/29/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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