''Losin' It'' is a 1983
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
directed by
Curtis Hanson
Curtis Lee Hanson (March 24, 1945 – September 20, 2016) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. His directing work included the psychological thriller '' The Hand That Rocks the Cradle'' (1992), the neo-noir crime film ''L. ...
and starring
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Go ...
,
Shelley Long
Shelley Lee Long (born August 23, 1949) is an American actress, singer, and comedian. Long portrayed Diane Chambers on the hit sitcom '' Cheers'' and received five Emmy nominations, winning in 1983 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Se ...
,
Jackie Earle Haley
Jack Earle Haley (born July 14, 1961) is an American actor and director. His earliest roles included Moocher in '' Breaking Away'' (1979) and Kelly Leak in '' The Bad News Bears'' (1976), ''The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training'' (1977) and ''T ...
, and
John Stockwell. The plot concerns four teenagers trying to lose their virginity. ''Losin' It'' was filmed largely in
Calexico, California
Calexico () is a city in southern Imperial County, California. Situated on the Mexican border, it is linked economically with the much larger city of Mexicali, the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California. It is about east of San Diego ...
.
Plot
Four teenagers from early 1960s
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
are on their way to
Tijuana
Tijuana ( ,["Tijuana"](_blank)
(US) and [< ...]
,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
: Dave, Woody, Spider, and Dave's brother Wendell. Dave, Spider, and Woody are there to lose their
virgin
Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
ity, while Wendell came along to buy
fireworks
Fireworks are a class of Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a l ...
. They end up picking up a woman named Kathy, who goes with them because she wants a fast
divorce
Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
from her husband, and they get into a series of hijinks and misadventures south of the border.
Cast
*
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Go ...
as Woody
*
Shelley Long
Shelley Lee Long (born August 23, 1949) is an American actress, singer, and comedian. Long portrayed Diane Chambers on the hit sitcom '' Cheers'' and received five Emmy nominations, winning in 1983 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Se ...
as Kathy
*
Jackie Earle Haley
Jack Earle Haley (born July 14, 1961) is an American actor and director. His earliest roles included Moocher in '' Breaking Away'' (1979) and Kelly Leak in '' The Bad News Bears'' (1976), ''The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training'' (1977) and ''T ...
as Dave
*
John Stockwell as "Spider"
*
John P. Navin, Jr.
John P. Navin Jr. (born July 24, 1968) is an American film and television actor from Philadelphia. He is well known for his roles in the 1981 drama film ''Taps (film), Taps'' and the 1983 movie ''Losin' It'', both of which co-starred Tom Cruise. ...
as Wendell
*
Henry Darrow
Henry Darrow (born Enrique Tomás Delgado Jiménez; September 15, 1933 – March 14, 2021) was an American character actor of stage and film known for his role as Manolito "Mano" Montoya on the 1960s television series ''The High Chaparral''. In ...
as Sheriff
* Hector Elias as "Chuey"
*
Mario Marcelino
Mario Marcelino is an American actor, possibly best known for his role as Mario Nunouz in the television soap opera '' Falcon Crest''.
He has also appeared in ''Knight Rider'', ''Airwolf
''Airwolf'' is an American action military drama tel ...
as Pablo
*
John Valby
John R. Valby (born November 22, 1944) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, comedian, and producer known for his comedic and obscene song parodies. Also known as Dr. Dirty, he typically performs in a white tailcoat suit and black derby ha ...
as Johnny "Hotrocks"
*
Rick Rossovich
Frederic Enrico Rossovich (born August 28, 1957) is an American actor. Rossovich began acting in the early 1980s, first gaining recognition for portraying Ron "Slider" Kerner in the 1986 film ''Top Gun''. Rossovich's other movies include the thri ...
as Marine
*
Kale Browne
David Charles "Kale" Browne (born June 16, 1950) is an American actor. He was born in San Rafael, California. Browne was the first to play the roles of Michael Hudson on ''Another World (TV series), Another World'' (1986–1993, 1995–19 ...
as Larry
*
Joe Spinell
Joe Spinell (born Joseph Spagnuolo; October 28, 1936 – January 13, 1989) was an American character actor who appeared in films in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as various stage productions on and off Broadway. He played supporting roles in ''The ...
as US Customs Officer
* Santos Morales as Barker At Tongaley
Reception
Critical response
The film received negative reviews from critics. It has an 18% score on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
based on 11 reviews.
Box office
The film opened in 180 theatres in New York and Los Angeles opening with a "lackluster" $437,257 for the weekend.
[
]
Home media
MGM released ''Losin' It'' as a Region 1 DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
on February 6, 2001. Kino Lorber
Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art house films, ...
released the film on Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
on March 5, 2019.
References
External links
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1980s sex comedy films
1983 films
American independent films
American sex comedy films
American teen comedy films
Films about virginity
Canadian sex comedy films
Canadian independent films
Embassy Pictures films
1980s English-language films
Films directed by Curtis Hanson
Films set in the 1960s
American comedy road movies
1980s comedy road movies
Films set in 1965
Films set in Tijuana
Teen sex comedy films
1983 comedy films
1980s American films
1980s Canadian films
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