Losin' It

Losin' It is the film that Tom Cruise got first billing in. On the strength of being more than noticed in Endless Love, Taps, and The Outsiders, Cruise got the lead in this minor teen comedy that made quite a bit of money back in the day.

Cruise, Jackie Earle Haley, and John Stockwell are three high school kids from the Eisenhower years who are looking to have a good time in Tijuana. Unfortunately they can't make the trip without John P. Navin who is Stockwell's brother because Stockwell came up short of cash.

Along the way the three of them pick up Shelley Long who is a young married who runs a convenient store on the way with her husband. Our three heroes just happen on her store when she's having a knockdown drag-out with her husband, culminating in Long walking out on her husband to hitching a ride to Tijuana to get a quickie Mexican divorce.

The rest of the film is about their adventures in Tijuana and their escape from there. I do say escape because Stockwell and Haley get into some serious trouble down there in separate incidents. They manage to get some marines on liberty down there mad at them and they fall into the hands of a crooked Tijuana cop played by Henry Darrow who really likes jamming up young Yanqui snot nose kids.

Cruise has an adventure of a different sort with Shelley Long in her pre-Cheers days. He's the only one who gets some enjoyment from Tijuana.

If there's a moral here, there's two of them. First there's no such thing as Spanish fly and second Tijuana is not a good place if you don't know the ropes.

After this Tom Cruise did Risky Business which cemented him as a teen idol and after that All the Right Moves which proved he was not only a box office draw, but a very capable actor.

As for Losin' It, it's an average teen sex comedy without the presence of Tom Cruise would barely be remembered.

Losin' It is a pretty funny roadtrip movie, thanks to the comedic antics of Jackie Earle Haley ('Breaking Away') who plays Dave, an oversexed kid desperate from some action during a weekend in Mexico. He and his buddies, Woody (Tom Cruise) clean cut shy kid, headlong Spider (the gorgeous John Stockwell) and Dave's clever brother Wendell (John P. Navin Jr.), embark on a wild roadtrip to lust after girls and underaged booze in 1965.

Each of the guys has their own experiences with love and mischief. Woody spends most of the time with Kathy (Shelly Long), a flamboyant older woman who hitched a ride with the boys to get a quickie divorce. Spider, the ego, abandons the group and frequently gets in trouble with a corrupt sheriff. Wendell, who came along for lots of black market goodies, spends the weekend trying to save his brother's ass, since Dave's misconception that the town is full of easy women gets him in heavy trouble with the locals.

It's a pretty funny movie that I'm surprised hasn't been given more notoriety among 80s fans. Tom Cruise and John Stockwell played their typical characters, but the stars of this movie, were really Jackie Earle Haley and John Navin. They were perfect.

Lay off this movie, people. It's a teen-age sex romp comedy. It doesn't pretend to be anything more. And as for teen sex-romp comedies, it's pretty entertaining.

Tom Cruise is in it. Shelley Long has a good part. And the guy from Breaking Away has the best character of all. What I really liked about this movie was how it "romanticized" Tijuana. It makes you want to take a trip down there and raise some hell yourself.

This movie is a good time on a Friday night. If you're gonna rent a movie like this, rent this one. You won't be disappointed.

This is a really bad movie. The only reason to see it is because it is early Tom Cruise, and of course he is gorgeous. I've been to Tijuana lotsa times, and let me tell you, some 16 years later, it's still a dirty, wicked city. If this movie conveys anything well, it's that.

Losin' it is one of my favorite movies because it is so much fun. Sure Tom Cruise is in it, but the best performance is by Jackie Earle Haley as "Big Dave". Go rent it if you can find it! It's really funny.