21 July 2000

THE UGLY: I was really, really hoping that Loser wasn't one. But it is. In fact, it may be the worst waste of talent in a teen movie that I've seen. All things considered, I'd rather watch The Skulls again. At least it looked good. Here, you take two talented young stars, Mena Suvari and Jason Biggs and manage to make them flat, boring and not terribly intelligent. You've got "bad guys" who use drugs to rape women…and it's a comedy beat and there is never any comeuppance. You've got Greg Kinnear in his most insipid turn yet--and that's saying something--as a man so unkind and self-involved that the idea that Mena Suvari ever did to him what she says she did to him is enough to make you cough up your Jujyfruits. (Does Greg Kinnear have a penis? He's a good-looking guy, but I never read virility for a second.)

I have not always been the biggest Amy Heckerling fan. I liked Fast Times at Ridgemont High a lot, a movie that was as frank and honest about the sex lives of young people as Loser was coy and unbelievable. Johnny Dangerous was a mess, but there was some really great stuff in there. Look Who's Talking was a clever stunt. And Heckerling showed the taste and smarts to grab John Travolta and to use the wattage he had even when he was down. Clueless, which also includes a rather dubious sexual relationship (girl and step-brother…eeewww!), nonetheless grew on me and became an accurate symbol of its era of teendom, much as Fast Times had before. So, though I have been resistant, I think I appreciate what Ms. Heckerling has been able to do and to do well.

Not this time.

Loser is a movie that should have been developed until it was ready. There are some great ideas here, but there is barely a scene that lives up to the potential of its idea. Or of the talent involved. Too bad.

RADIO RADIO: George will be flying solo on KABC this weekend as I'll be down in San Diego at the Comicon. George is trying to book Clive Owens from Croupier. I'll be trying to get a few minutes from Bryan Singer from the Comicon. Who knows what will happen? KABC-790 in L.A. and kabc.com on the Web, Saturday starting at 11 a.m. pst.

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Last chance to come watch the bloodbath panel at the San Diego Comicon. The line-up is Harry Knowles, Chris Gore, Patrick Saurial, Den Shewman, Kevin Smith, Tom DeSanto and myself. When Kevin Smith was added, I was fine with that. But adding DeSanto as well makes for an interesting balance. Smith is a Friend of Knowles and DeSanto was, at least in the perception of Fox, screwed by Knowles on X-Men. I'd hate to think that all we're going to do is to talk about Harry, but the balance seems irresistible. The panel, "Caught in the Net" is Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

BAD AD WATCH: An ad caught my eye and though it was in the movie section it wasn't a movie ad. It is for TiVo, the live digital box that allows you to record programming in new exciting ways. But the ad has a fairly serious photo of a middle-aged Hispanic man and reads, "How TiVo Kept Me From Having Permanent Kidney Damage." The body copy reads, "I love sitcoms. Love them. But I have what is commonly referred to as a nervous bladder. Anything can set it off. Especially belly laughs. Whenever there's a funny scene I start sweating. Stay on the couch and watch the last joke or run to the bathroom. Stay or run. Run. It's horrible! All the time I was running back into the room asking, 'What happened, what happened?' Annoying! Then I got TiVo. Now when I start laughing, I just hit "pause" and leave the room. It pauses live TV. I don't know how, and frankly, I don't care. It just works. Pause, relief. Pause, relief. You have no idea how much this helps me. I encourage you to go to …."

Anyway, there is something really sick about that ad to me. Am I crazy? It's bad enough that TV is now loaded with ads for prescription drugs with hushed warnings that "a small percentage of those who take Medicine X will experience mild side effects such as diarrhea, rectal itch and the loss of hearing on odd-numbered days." But this is creepy… isn't it?

READER OF THE DAY: Ed, Edd & Eddy writes: "Now that I've actually SEEN the X-Men movie, (which happened to rock! Especially that last scene--with Prof. X and Magneto just talking. Have you noticed that in all 4 Bryan Singer movies the last scenes have been terrific? That guy really knows how to end a movie!), and more importantly now that I've actually HEARD it, I thought I'd write a follow-up to my write in about Michael Kamen's score (not that you necessarily care).

I feel that the score took nothing away from the movie, but at the same time, didn't add anything either. It was just kind of there. And this would work for a regular movie, but I felt that X-Men deserved better, in other words, the film really DID need a theme to define it, not just a regular score. Ironically, the movie seems to actually get a theme--during the ending credits! Too bad, 'cause if used more, the movie would have been even better.

I assume if Singer helms the sequel (which I have a bad feeling that he won't, although I hope very much that I'm wrong) Jon Ottman will replace Kamen, and maybe even edit it as he's done in the past for Singer movies (I think this movie had three editors, although I could be wrong). Either way, I'm sure it's gonna be good, and by then, perhaps we will finally have a suitable theme for the X-Men, one that they most definitely deserve."

E ME: What do you want to see this weekend and why?