BlueFairyBlog Amy Heckerling doesn't quite know what kind of audience she is trying to engage. If she's trying to show high school kids the problems and unexpected strife of college life in a metropolis, then she should have shown that world in a more focused way. If she's trying to be funny and quirky for the older subset than her characters should have been better written and less dickish. Besides being clinically underwritten, it's difficult to figure out who is the lead character, or at least the person we're supposed to sympathize with. Throughout the film we follow Paul (Biggs) and it seems that he is our protagonist. We feel for him when his dorm mates are mean spirited, when the girl of his dreams is misguided, and when everything tries to keep him from getting through school, but he lacks character development. He goes through hard times, but there's no resolution to be seen, and he doesn't change at all. Dora (Suvari) on the other hand has a mess of bad things happen to her, and then she changes her opinion about her relationship with her professor (Kinnear), which means she's the only character who evolves throughout the film. It seems that we should be following her, but then interwoven in her tale is that of Paul's, who just seems like some poor schmuck who never wins. Without any proper direction for our characters, and no change in their behaviors or thoughts on the world, there shouldn't really be any reason for this film to exist. It's trying to show the problems of college students, but it doesn't realistically depict them. Paul's three roommates are also pretty distracting, as they're rich, sycophantic rapists, who don't seem to get much comeuppance until the credits. Besides its plot defects it's also drab and very of its time, making this film a tiring slog.

napierslogs Jason Biggs stars as the "Loser" a freshman trying to fit in at New York University. It has the usual likable loser who gets stuck around jerks and tries to win over a girl. It's been done many times before and it's been done better.Written and directed by Amy Heckerling, this is her first film since "Clueless" (1995). It only has a few funny lines and relies on popular music to make it entertaining. It has very little of the ascorbic wit Heckerling has shown in her other films. The best character was Greg Kinnear as the unscrupulous college professor with great banter. Biggs is his usual likable awkward self. Mena Suvari plays 'the girl' and as usual for Suvari she comes across as annoying and not nearly as smart as her character is supposed to be.If you are looking for the next "Clueless" check out "I Could Never Be Your Woman" (2007) it better matches Heckerling's potential. Or for a better version of this "Loser" genre, watch "She's Out of My League" (2010) or "Sydney White" (2007).

jivanov-1 I'm sorry, was there a worse movie out in the last 15 or 20 years? I know Hollywood makes crap, now and then, but HOLY F**K! From the stupidly unbelievable "home" scene at the start, to the college with not a single decently developed character in it, including the main characters. The producers must have spent 50 times as much on the soundtrack as they did on the screenplay. Holy crap this movie's bad! Ugh! There was not one, single, genuine scene in the entire movie. There's more depth to be had in a subway poster. Oh, there are worse movies, I am sure. There's got to be one out there, surely. I can't think of one, but surely there must. Someone help me out here. Is there a crappier move made with less crappy actors? Man! I think I need a bath to get rid of this stink!

Jennie As an old movie fan, I've dealt with many successful and unsuccessful remakes of old movies I like. The Heiress, Charade, the list goes on and on. However, in all of these cases the movie was touted as a remake, and not sneakily re-written in some kind of hope that no savvy viewers would realize what they were watching.I have a secret love for stupid teen comedies, so I watched Loser expecting a brainless fiesta. Imagine my outrage when I realized I was watching a horrendous remake of my favorite movie of ALL TIME, "The Apartment." In shock, I watched as characters, situations, and whole sequences were lifted wholeheartedly from Billy Wilder's beautifully dark and comic parable about the value of morals in a faceless urban society.What shocked me the most is that Amy Heckerling has never copped to this being a remake. I have watched DVD special features, read reviews, and even searched here for some word from Ms Heckerling, but there is nothing. I am not so troubled by this being a mediocre at best remake than by it being so shadily remade. Until I read the comments from my fellow IMDb posters, I had not even read about anyone else realizing the similarities.If you're interested in watching Loser, do yourself a favor and watch the Apartment instead. You will feel uplifted and rewarded as a film goer and a human being. (Note: Amy Heckerling is an old movie fan! I have seen her doing interviews in tributes to directors like Frank Capra and Billy Wilder himself! So this remake was NOT an accident OR a coincidence!)