Jason Biggs stars as Paul, a young man from the Midwest who gets an academic scholarship to NYU. He's afraid of going to the big city where everyone has "that sarcastic sense of humor - like the people on 'Seinfeld'." By his own admission, Paul is not hip to style or fashion. He's hard-working, down-to-earth, and polite. His father (Dan Aykroyd) gives him some advice: listen to people and they will like you.

Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari star in the comedy Loser

Once at college, Paul finds himself an outsider. Everyone dresses better and seems to know the secret handshake. His three roommates - all fashion-conscious partiers - are openly contemptuous of him. One of them even tells Paul: "Nobody likes you." They make fun of his ear-flapped hat and his ignorance of popular catch phrases. They make him a patsy for their schemes, exploiting his naivete at every turn. Even his literature professor Alcott (Greg Kinnear) pokes fun at him. The only person who seems sympathetic to Paul is Dora (Mena Suvari), a cute, semi-introverted coed who sits next to him in class. Dora feels like an outsider, too. She wears a slutty outfit in a local bar to make tuition money, and is carrying on an affair with Alcott, who clearly views her as little more than a sex object.

Paul and Dora become friends. He invites her to an Everclear concert, saves her life when someone slips her a date rape drug, and listens intently as she complains about the poor treatment she receives from Alcott. Clearly, he is falling in love with her. Just as clearly, she is viewing him as only a friend. Paul wonders if he will ever be hip enough to gain her love, since she seems to prefer the self-impressed Alcott to his own basic decency.

Loser is a comedy filled with details about the main characters. One great character trait is that Dora seems to exist on packets of honey and little half-and-half creamers. We easily get a sense of the moment-to-moment financial desperation that she continually faces. Paul tries to fit in, working at it almost as hard as he does on his studying. In one scene, he shows Dora his pathetic attempt at hipness: a pair of blue jeans with fake boxer shorts protruding from the top. Such little details give the movie a sense of reality. These feel like real college kids rather than stereotypical movie creations.

One thing Loser really captures is the overthinking that many college kids have. Even the smartest ones often have delusions of grandeur. Their newfound freedom gives them a false sense of their own infallibility. Dora really believes that her professor can respect and love her. She also believes that taking fertility drugs and selling her eggs is a great way to make money. Paul, on the other hand, thinks he can play the eternal good guy, saving the girl he loves from all the pitfalls life has in store for her. Both characters are so well conceived and so well played that following them for 97 minutes is a joy. I liked these people; if they were real, I'd want to hang out with them.

Biggs and Suvari (who co-starred together in American Pie) have a nice, relaxed chemistry together. Perhaps because of their previous collaboration, they create a sense that Paul and Dora genuinely like one another. Kinnear is also good as the lascivious professor, all too willing to have a fling with Dora but not at all willing to respect her. (Don't we all know at least one professor like that?) Even the obnoxious roommates are good. They're more than just jerks; they're realistic jerks. They reminded me of a few people I knew from my own college days.

Loser kind of fizzles at the end, with a half-hearted awakening on Dora's part and a series of those annoying "Where are they now?" titles that tell you what happened to each of the film's characters. The ending lacks the punch it should have had, but the rest of the movie sparkles with humor and wit. The moral of the story is that neither Paul nor Dora is a loser; as for the people around them...well, that's a different story.

( out of four)

Loser is rated PG-13 for drug content, crude sexual material and language. The running time is 1 hour and 37 minutes.