How To
Stop Being A Loser
“A
young man, fed up with being a loser
and missing out on life, finds what he
thinks he has been looking for on the
Internet with a course from a pick-up
school — only to find happiness is right
under his nose in the clever comedy
How To Stop Being A Loser...”
COMPUTER NERD AND WARRIOR QUEST PLAYER James (Simon Phillips) is a loser.
He seems content hanging around with his friends; but when he sets his heart
of winning the girl of his dreams, he realises he needs help, with a capital
H (or actually A, but that comes later!).
He learns of the death of his best friend Ian (Richard E Grant) through his
close friend Patch (Stephanie Leonidas). Ian has thrown himself under a train
in desperation after being rejected by a young woman he had tried to chat to.
At Ian's funeral, James recognises Hannah (Gemma Atkinson) from school. He had
always had a thing about her but believes her to be out of his league. Ian has
left a recorded a message for James telling him not to be like him and to get
out there and learn how to talk to women.
Patch introduces James to her friend, but the evening goes disastrously wrong
as he cannot seem to put a foot — or a word — right. He even consults
a psychiatrist, Dr Leaner (Billy Murray) but even that goes wrong in a very
funny way.
With Ian's words echoing in his head, James watches a video with a sexy guy
called Zeus (the lovely Martin Kemp) surrounded by a bevy of beauties. Zeus
claims to have been a geek until he discovered Pick-Up and learned how to pick
up women. It is now, he says, his goal to teach any man how to attract women.
James orders the book Zeus has written and attends a Zeus seminar organised
by the Ampersand Pick-Up School. Ampersand (Craig Conway) has a problem with
his website and James offers to fix the website in exchange for one-on-one tuition.
Hilariously, Ampersand never fails to attract any woman he wants and he begins
to teach James how to do the same. Soon James has enough courage to go after
the woman he wants; but when he has got her, will he still want her? James has
now learned the dark art of seduction from Ampersand. But just who is Ampersand
and how does Zeus fit into all this?
How To Stop Being A Loser is funny and intriguing; but it is a pity that
once again a film resorts to toilet humour and offensive language when the gags
could come thick and fast with the development of the story. In spite of this,
well worth watching.
How To Stop Being A Loser also features: Chris Grezo as Tom; Martin Compston
as Adam; Dominic Burns as Neil; Jamie Longthorne as Guy; Colin Salmon as Dennis;
Adele Silva as Charlotte; and Larissa Houghton as Kelly-Ann and Sheridan Smith
as Lisa.
Music by Matthew Williams; Director of Photography is Alessio Valori, AIC; Written
by Chris Grezo and Rupert Knowles; Produced by: Billy Murray, Jonathan Sothcott,
Simon Phillips, Dominic Burns and Patricia Rybarczyk; Directed by Dominic Burns.
• How
To Stop Being A Loser, a British comedy about a consummate dork who wants
to learn how to pick up women, is released courtesy of Crabtree Films on DVD
on 6 February 2012. Running Time: 109 Minutes | Certificate: 15.
Bonus Features Include: An Exclusive Commentary with a Genuine Pick-up
Artist and Craig Conway | A West End Premiere Featurette | A Selection of trailers.
"How To Stop Being A Loser is funny and intriguing… well worth watching"
— Maggie Woods, MotorBar
Understatement of the Film — Ian: "James, don't be like me… A dateless
wonder."
