2000 film by Amy Heckerling
Loser is a 2000 American teen romantic comedy film written and directed by Amy Heckerling. Starring Jason Biggs, Mena Suvari and Greg Kinnear, it is about a fish-out-of-water college student (Biggs) who falls for a classmate (Suvari), unaware she is in a relationship with their English teacher (Kinnear). The film, Heckerling's first after 1995's Clueless and a remake of the 1960 film The Apartment, was a box-office failure and received negative reviews.
Plot
Paul Tannek, a small-town, intelligent kid from the Midwest, is accepted into New York University on scholarship. Following his father's advice, he tries to gain friends by being polite and interested in others. However, his new roommates—Chris, Adam, and Noah —brand him a loser due to his polite manner, working class background, and determination for education. The trio concocts a false story to the housing administration about Paul's attitude. As a result, he is thrown out of the dorm and forced to live in a veterinary hospital. Later, after being banned from throwing parties in the dorm, the trio convinces Paul to let them party at the hospital.
Paul is attracted to classmate Dora Diamond, unaware of her affair with English professor Edward Alcott. Dora had been working as a waitress in a strip club to pay tuition before she was fired. Dora asks Alcott if she can temporarily live with him to save on commuting time. Alcott declines her request.
Paul invites Dora to a concert of Everclear, whom she was a fan of. The night of the date, Adam invites Dora to a party at the veterinary hospital where Paul stays. She accepts with the intention of leaving early. However, at the party, she is roofied and passes out. After the concert, Paul returns to the hospital to find a huge mess and an unresponsive Dora.
Rushing her to the hospital, Paul learns Alcott is Dora's emergency contact, and he tells Chris the following day without thinking. Alcott denies knowing Dora when contacted by emergency officials. As she recovers, Dora and Paul start to develop feelings for one another, though he notices Dora is still infatuated with Alcott.
Dora finds a new job and celebrates with Paul, but their celebration is cut short by Alcott, who has changed his mind about Dora living with him. Alcott reveals that Chris, Noah, and Adam are blackmailing him for passing grades, and he believes Paul is in on the scheme. After discovering roofies were involved at the party, Paul steals Noah's supply and replaces them with placebos. Paul visits Alcott's office to inquire about Dora and is given his final exam as a take-home test. Paul turns down the offer, jeopardizing his scholarship.
Dora overhears Paul on the phone with his father, talking about how much he misses her. Alcott then admits he learned that Paul had nothing to do with the blackmail but still intends to fail him. Realizing Paul is the one who truly loves her, Dora terminates her affair with Alcott, beginning a relationship with Paul. Afterward, Adam, Noah, and Chris' behavior get the better of them, and their lives plummet into failure. At the same time, Alcott is found out and sent to prison for having an affair with an underage student, and Paul and Dora remain happy in their relationship.
Reception
Box office
The film opened at number eight at the North American box office, making $6,008,611 in its opening weekend. The film generated a total of $15.6 million in the US. It failed further when released worldwide, grossing a total of just $2.7 million. The film did not break even on its production costs.[2][3]
In a 2017 interview with The Ringer, director Amy Heckerling said the reason for the film's failure was the studio's insistence on a “watered down” PG-13 rating, even though Heckerling and the studio executives who greenlit the film intended for the movie to be an R-rated comedy.[4]
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 24% based on reviews from 96 critics, with an average rating of 4.2/10. The site's consensus states: "In the grand tradition of teen flicks, Loser comes across as another predictable and underwritten movie with nothing new to offer."[5] On Metacritic, it has a 35% score based on reviews from 29 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[6] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.[7]
Roger Ebert gives the film two stars out of four. He enjoyed the performance of Kinnear as well as the chemistry between the two leads, but found the film otherwise unremarkable.[8]
Film critic James Berardinelli gave the film 3 out 4 stars, stating that the film was one of the "pleasant surprises" of the 2000 film season.[9]
