LOSER
Released: July 21, 2000
Director Amy Heckerling gave us "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" in 1982, a smart and intelligent look at teenagers and also she gave us "Clueless" in 1995, another fast, bouncy look at teens. In 2000, she offers us a look at college aged students from the perspective of the smalltown boy coming to the big city for college and the tirelessly commuting girl who also happens to be having a secret affair with a professor. I liked parts of this a lot. However, the writing (also by Heckerling) dumbs down the characters and stereotypes them in the worst Hollywood movie making ways. Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari star. Both appeared in 1999's "American Pie" (Suvari got additional exposure in "American Beauty" as the cheerleader Kevin Spacey's character obsesses over. It's a good cast, great locations, great music - just lacking the right nuances in the script to make these people real. There's another great movie in Heckerling but this one isn't it.
Columbia/Sony
120 (or so) Minutes