Is Losin’ It Treasure or Trash?
Blu-ray Distributed By Kino Lorber / March 19, 2019
BRAND NEW 2K MASTER! Hollywood icon Tom Cruise (Valkyrie) in his first starring role has everything to gain—and a certain something to lose—when he crosses paths with Shelley Long (Hello Again) in this rambunctious road-trip comedy set in the wild and wacky sixties. When all-American high-schooler Woody (Cruise) and his Sinatra-obsessed pal Dave (Jackie Earle Haley, Watchmen) decide that it’s time to lose their virginity, they enlist the help of their “more experienced” friend Spider (John Stockwell, Christine) and head south-of-the-border. Now, in a hilariously raunchy search for cheap booze—and even cheaper thrills—the intrepid trio will run into fast-food floozies, crooked cops and a close encounter with a doubting would-be divorcée (Long) that will change Woody’s life forever. Wonderfully directed by Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential, The Bedroom Window) with a screenplay by B.W.L. Norton (Convoy).
Jamie’s Take 
(3 / 5)
It appears that 1983 was the year of Tom Cruise. Cruise was in a total of four movies that year, three of which were pretty big hits: The Outsiders, Risky Business, and All the Right Moves. All pretty well known and good films. But his first STARRING role was that of a virginal teenager looking to get laid named Woody in the somewhat forgotten Losin’ It.
Thanks to the success of Porky’s in 1982, a whole slew of teen sex comedies began flooding theaters. While many are sexist and pretty dumb, these comedies would overrun the theaters for a few years as patrons paid their hard earned cash to see horny boys get it on in such films like Private School, Screwballs, Revenge of the Nerds, Class, The Last American Virgin, Zapped, Private Lessons, Hardbodies, My Tutor, Spring Break, and of course Porky’s II: The Next Day and Porky’s Revenge. One could even argue that Cruise’s own Risky Business may fall into that mix.
I may be the wrong person to review Losin’ It because I can’t seem to take off my 80’s nostalgia blinders. I grew up with Losin’ It and all the other 80’s sex comedies I had listed. I saw all of these back in the day, most of them off HBO late at night without my parents finding out or at a sleepover event where a friend’s parents simply didn’t care what we watched (I still remember convincing a friend to rent The Blue Lagoon because I had thought it showed Brooke Shields’ bumicles when it was really her stand-in).
Losin’ It borrows from Porky’s as the film is also a period piece much like Porky’s, set in 1965 and centers on three close friends getting ready to trek into Tijuana to simply get laid.
Cruise plays the virginal lead who may be too much of a nice guy to pop his cherry with a woman who doesn’t care for him aside from his pocketbook. His close friend Spider (John Stockwell), the tough kid on the block who can’t seem to stay out of trouble, has no problems with the ladies but is going along just for the ride.
But the scene-stealer of the film is Dave played by Jackie Earle Haley. Dave, whose idol is Frank Sinatra, is absolutely nothing like Sinatra. He’s a dork and women won’t even acknowledge him as he so desperately wants not love like his friend Woody, but to simply bang someone. His mission in Tijuana is to score Spanish Fly so that women will fall into his arms without so much as a drop of this herbal essence. Needless to say, this “plan” is going to fail and with some fairly funny results.
I will say Losin’ It has a decent cast. Not only are the leads good but the movie does have some cameos, notably Rick Rossovich (The Terminator, Roxanne) and Joe Spinell (Maniac). The performances are pretty solid and while the movie does come off as a tad cheap and juvenile, the actors give the film a certain touch of class. It’s hard to believe the director Curtis Hanson went on to do L.A. Confidential.
As for the blu ray, the Kino release is just a slight step up from the older DVD that was released as a double bill with The Last American Virgin (a much superior film). The picture looks fine and the film does have some nice colorful sequences when the boys get to Tijuana that look good in HD. There is some speckling and jittering so the print may not have been in the best shape but overall it’s a decent transfer. If anything my biggest complaint is the sound and there is one moment that lasts for maybe two or three minutes where the sound drops almost entirely in the first act. I am kind of shocked Kino didn’t catch that. Was there really a rush to get fucking Losin’ It on blu ray that more time could have been spent fixing this glitch?
While it’s not a work of art by any means, Losin’ It does have some laughs and for you horny dicks out there, female flapjacks are present (Shelly Long does not show her mosquito bites or her money pit). It also did provide me with some heavy nostalgia for an innocent time when life’s only mission was to hang out with the guys and search for poonany.
I dedicate this review to my old high school friends in Webster, NY. You know who you are.
Hidden Treasure/Dumpster Fire?
Jamie says: One’s Trash is Another’s Treasure.
| Jamie's Take: |  (3.0 / 5) |
| Blu-ray Extras: |  (1.5 / 5) |
| Average: |  (2.3 / 5) |
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