''Losin' It'' is a 1982

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Curtis Hanson Curtis Lee Hanson (March 24, 1945 – September 20, 2016) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Born in Reno, Nevada, Hanson grew up in Los Angeles. After dropping out of high school, Hanson worked as photographer and edito ...

, and starring

Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and film producer. Regarded as a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood icon, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Tom Cruise, various accolades, includ ...

, Shelley Long,

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 '' ...

and John Stockwell. The film follows four teenagers trying to lose their virginity. It was filmed largely in

Calexico, California Calexico () is a city in southern Imperial County, California. Situated on the Mexico–United States border, Mexican border, it is linked economically with the much larger city of Mexicali, the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California ...

Plot

Four teenagers from early 1960s

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

are on their way to

Tijuana Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

: Dave, Woody, Spider, and Dave's brother Wendell. Dave, Spider, and Woody are there to lose their

virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

ity, while Wendell came along to buy

fireworks Fireworks are 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 large numbe ...

. 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 reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

from her husband, and they get into a series of hijinks and misadventures south of the border.

Cast

as Woody * Shelley Long as Kathy *

as Dave * John Stockwell as "Spider" * John P. Navin, Jr. as Wendell * Henry Darrow as Sheriff * Hector Elias as "Chuey" * Mario Marcelino as Pablo * John Valby as Johnny "Hotrocks" * Rick Rossovich as Marine *

Kale Browne David Charles "Kale" Browne (born June 16, 1950) is an American actor. Biography He was born in San Rafael, California. Browne was the first to play the roles of Michael Hudson on '' Another World'' (1986–1993, 1995–1998) and Sam Rap ...

as Larry * Joe Spinell as US Customs Officer * Santos Morales as Barker At Tongaley

Reception

Critical response

The film received negative reviews from critics.

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert. Siskel started writing for the '' ...

and

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

criticized the film on their TV program '' At the Movies''. Siskel called it "dreadful" and "predictable." Ebert described the themes of the movie as "sick" for suggesting that young men should seek out prostitutes or older women instead of forming relationships with women their own age.

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, who served as a film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1977 to 1999, serving as chief critic for the last six years, and then a literary critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000, M ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' praised Shelley Long for her charm and skill at physical comedy, calling her "the best thing in the movie." But she criticized the screenplay for its excesses and suggested that most of the cast "might fare much better in a different movie."

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 ki ...

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 film, art ho ...

released the film on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

on March 5, 2019.

References

External links

* * * * 1980s sex comedy films 1982 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 1982 comedy films 1980s American films 1980s Canadian films English-language sex comedy films {{erotic-comedy-film-stub