Weft Daily (Ear Hrrl
Been There, Done That for Bad 'Loser'
Ariadne Guthrie
Staff Writer
At some point in high school, every
person met someone who was trying so
hard to be cool that it was painful.
Losers were the people you desperately
wanted to make fun of, but you just
couldn’t stop pitying long enough to get
a good one-liner out.
However, the "Loser" currendy
embarrassing
itself in the
aters is bad
enough to put
pity aside.
After an hour
and a half of
H| Movie Review
"Loser"
f
tired jokes, bad slapstick and sappy
romance, it’s clear that this new movie
is apdy named.
The writers of "Loser," who obvious
ly needed to do some more research on
their subjects, were trying to ride the
prosperous wave of high school roman
tic comedies such as "Can’t Hardly
Wait" and "American Pie" while simul
taneously allowing the new stars to
‘grow up’ a little by placing them
smack-dab in the modem mecca of
maturity: college.
Jason Biggs, who will forever be
remembered for his tryst with a tasty
tart in "American Pie," plays Paul, a
small-town kid trying too hard to fit into
the trendy society of NYU. Tormented
by his hip roommates and ignored by
everyone else, Paul eventually finds
friendship, and love, of course, with
another troubled soul.
Dora (Mena Suvari of “American
Beauty") is a perfect cross between
Brittany Spears and one of "The Craft"
ladies, a melancholy girl who drops the
Everclear
Learns To
Smile Big
The usually cynical Everclear
teaches all rockers to "don't
worry, be happy" on their
new album of so-so Songs
Karen Whichard
Staff Writer
The good life has become a reality
for the band members of Everclear, if
the lyrics of their new album Songs From
an American Movie Vol. One: Learning How
to Smile are to be believed.
Songs is the
fourth album
for the trio,
and the group
has traded
their tradition
ally cynical
themes for a
lighter message
celebrating
p; CD Review
Everclear
Songs From an American
Movie Vol. One: Learning
How to Smile
ft
family life and the fruits of success.
The new album features several trib
utes to vocalist and guitar player Art
Alexakis’ young daughter, including
“Annabclla’s Song. ” The last track on
the album is a contemplative piece that
moves majestically and utilizes a string
section fused with the band’s own
/The
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Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari star with Greg Kinnear in the forgetable new teen flick "Loser." The haphazard
mix of sappy romance and tired, overused comedy fail to make this movie watchable, even for teenagers.
attitude and her affair with her manipu
lative English professor, to be with Paul.
The real problem with “Loser” is that
it’s been done before, and it was done
better. Paul’s struggle for acceptance in
the movie is a re-telling of Drew
Barrymore’s film "Never Been Kissed."
Since the stories in both films are prac
tically identical, "Loser" had already lost
points for being too predictable.
Its cast, too, turns in a disappointing
performance. Paul’s roommates, a hip
trio of N’Sync look-alikes, are never
quite cruel, shallow or conniving
enough to really humiliate anyone
Songs From An American Movie
Vol. One: Learning How To Smile
instrumentation fairly successfully.
The worst song on Songs is Everclear’s
abysmal attempt at the Van Morrison
classic “Brown Eyed Girl. ” Everclear
chooses to ignore Van Morrison’s
bouncing playfiilness and instead treats
the song as if it was a church hymn.
While many of Everclear’s attempts
fall flat on Songs, there are some great
tunes on the new album. “AM Radio,”
which masterfully samplesjean Knight’s
“Mr. Big Stuff,” is possibly the best song
on the album. The nostalgic tone of the
lyrics is done well, and the band suc
cessfully fuses their traditionally cynical
nature with a happy-go-lucky theme.
The smooth guitar rifts and the sam
LSAT
Arts & Entertainment
except themselves. One scene, which
involves their experimentation with a
date rape drug, should have been left on
the cutting room floor.
Greg Kinnear, who was excellent in
his role in “As Good As It Gets,” is flat
and forgettable as the English professor,
and Suvari’s role is so limited to merely
looking cute that she, too, is unfortu
nately unmemorable.
Biggs, who also was the best part of
this summer’s other lackluster college
flick “Boys and Girls,” is the movie’s
saving grace. His portrayal of the nice
guy who finishes last is right on target,
pie of Public Enemy’s “Bring in the
Noise,” along with Everclear’s excellent
energy, allow the ironic tone of “Here
We Go Again ”to shine through.
Overall, Songs is a disappointing
album. Everclear has never been known
for exceptional musical ability, instead
successfully leaning on masterful lyric
work fraught with irony and anger. The
first volume of Songs loses some of the
band’s best qualities. Hopefully, the sec
ond album in the set will return to the
energy that propelled Everclear to their
mainstream status.
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
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funny, and only mildly bogged down
by bad scripting. Although forced to
deliver some terrible lines, Biggs is
charming enough that it becomes almost
forgivable.
So, when the people beside you in
the theater fall asleep during a movie
they’ve paid six bucks to see, it’s a bad
sign. When you leave the theater crying
and you paid to see a comedy, it
becomes official.
You’ve just seen a "Loser."
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
Lack of Entertaining Options
Highlights Writer's Summer
Summer is almost dead.
The glorious times of backyard
barbecues, suntanning, and pesky
mosquitoes are nearly finished as we,
college students, have only a few weeks
before our reality of schooling begins
again.
Has the summer of 2000 been a par
ticularly entertaining one? While some
might not be bursting with fruit flavor
over their past few months, that doesn’t
mean that the Hollywood’s powers that
be have not been trying to give us some
thing, and I mean anything, to do.
With a family emergency that left me
practically living in a hospital for a
month, I was left to search the television
stations night and day looking for the
perfect television show to carry my
unhappy thoughts away. To my sur
prise, besides Comedy Central, I real
ized that summer TV sucks.
Television has caught the voyeurism
bug. Summer shows like “Big Brother”
and “Survivor” have taken a creepier
page from the “Real World” manual by
putting together grown-ups with
younger adults to see how they interact.
Who cares about these people and why
are they so special? Next summer, in an
attempt to go “younger,” CBS is putting
10 infants in a gigantic bubble for three
months to see how much they miss their
mommies. I may be kidding.
Game shows are also getting more
outrageous, thanks to that “Millionaire”
Implausible Plot, Good
Effects Fill Limp Ties'
Kit Foss
Staff Writer
Due to its reliance on hackneyed
scary movie techniques, Director Robert
Zemeckis' (“Forest Gump”) psychologi
cal thriller “What Lies Beneath” starts
out well but falls short of greatness.
Michelle Pfeiffer (“The Story of Us”)
plays Claire
Spencer, a
lonely and
fragile house
wife who is
consumed by
the eccentric
actions of a
fc Movie Review
"What Lies Beneath"
ff
spirit intent on revenging her husband,
Norman Spencer (Harrison Ford of
“Random Hearts”). Her life is the epit
ome of a transitional phase due to her
new house, recent car accident and
departure of her only daughter to col
lege.
Naturally, her cold, geneticist hus
band assumes these elements could eas
ily drive his gal into the loopy state of
believing a ghost is tinkering with the
radio, computer, bathtub and front
door. Playing outside his usual role of
the good guy, Ford’s character refuses to
take his wife’s reports of experiencing
“the presence” of a ghost seriously.
Considerable tribute to Hitchcock
appears in the red herring presented by
parallels between Michelle Pfeiffer’s
character and her lovelorn next door
neighbor. “Beneath” acknowledges the
famous shower scene of Hitchcock’s
"Psycho" when Pfeiffer rips down the
shower curtain as she attempts to flee
■
JUSTIN WINTERS
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
show. My fave has to be the USA net
work’s “Strip Poker.” It involves two
pairs of super-fit contestants answering
mundane questions to keep from taking
off all their clothes (minus the skivvies).
Is this what respectable people do on
their day off? Someone please bring
back “Press Your Luck!”
This summer has also teleported
many exquisite selections to my list of
“Songs I Would Rather Never Hear
Again.” I can take MTV’s teasing so
called show “Undressed” every so often,
and Sisqo has taught me how to shake
my groove thing, but every song on
“TRL” can just please be gone by sum
mer’s end.
And since I am movies and movies
are me, I can’t stand some of the films I
have seen this summer. Besides
“Gladiator,” which came out ages ago,
and “X-Men,” which I still say rocks,
nothing has really tooted my horn.
We can most likely expect more
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from the bad guy. The film also bor
rows from the voyeuristic qualities of
"Rear Window" in its usage of Pfeiffer
spying on her next door neighbor, who
unexpectedly spies back.
The visual effects of “Beneath” are
the redeeming quality of the film - sun
pie, yet unforgettable. The lack of light
in the film creates a classic horror movie
aura. Again, the film pays homage to
the techniques of Hitchcock: mirrors,
glass, windows, and reflections in water
play up the spirit’s appearances, but
after a while the audience tires of antic
ipating the image of a ghost in these sur
faces.
Zemeckis, who is known for his spe
cial effects work in his films such as
“Gump” and “Back to the Future,”
could have spent more time developing
some of the hole-filled storyline rather
than the many attempts to scare.
The plot of "Beneath" is riddled with
serious credibility issues. It’s extremely
murky what any woman would see in
Ford’s character’s overall lack of support
and charm. The kicker is when the oh
so-brilliant heroine stops driving her
vehicle to call the police in the midst of
a chase scene. Doesn’t she realize how
stupid this is considering the fact that
she’s in a horror movie and the bad guy
is (predictably) right behind her?
I’ll try to suspend my disbelief and
not spoil the lackluster plot by revealing
what happens next, but if you’ve seen
the trailers for this movie, you’ve basi
cally seen what (doesn’t) lie beneath.
The Arts & Entertainment editor can
be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
movies like the hilarious but ultra-vulgar
“Scary Movie” in the future though.
Shots of testicles and jokes about manly
fluids make me laugh occasionally but
do nothing for my grandparents in
terms of entertainment And some won
der why the geriatric Oscar voters never
vote for summeT flicks.
Chapel Hill has been a entertaining
thrill this summer for those people who
love it best. A wooden barricade has
segregated us from the important mon
ument formerly known as the Student
Union steps. Supposedly, it has begun,
according to the signs, and will never
ever end again. I pity all the poor tour
guides who have to explain what it actu
ally is. “Well, ya’ll see, this is, well, don’t
worry about that. Here is our glorious
eating establishment known as Lenoir.”
So, with the summer of 2000
approaching its end, there is still time to
carpe diem before August 22. Go on
roadtrips. Make fun of C-TOPpers. Start
a dot-com. Just have fun. I heard we’ll
miss these summers when they’re gone.
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can
be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
5