Born to Lose (1999) User Reviews

Ultimately a disappointment

[chas77 · 5/10 · 19 July 2002]

I really wanted to like this film seeing as how it has such an excellent soundtrack (which I believe was released by Bomp! and something you should pick up if you like garage punk) by bands like Trash Can School, the Zeros, Texas Terri, etc.

As someone who has been to punk gigs in LA throughout the '90s I can't say I knew one person who was as screwed up as the lead singer. The writer/director has stated in interviews that he was trying to mold the lead character after Johnny Thunders. Thunders was one of a kind. Perhaps the film should have been set in the '70's where such a cliched story (we've all seen "Sid and Nancy") would fit better and be more realistic.

Photography and acting are pretty good but the sound in some scenes is really awful. Take the last scene of the movie: I had no idea who the old guy in the wheelchair was or what the lead character was saying and why he was taking the dude's wheelchair. Why was this scene even included?

Overall, a disappointment. It would be cool to see a realistic film about the '90's LA-garage punk scene someday. This just ain't it. 5/10

chicks dig the snarl

[sleazegrinder · 7/10 · 30 November 2002]

Make no mistake, this is a t-shirt movie. Not that that's a bad thing. I mean, "Sid and Nancy" was a t-shirt movie too, and that was a classic, right? It's just that 6 months from now, when I think back on "Born to Lose", the first thing I'm going to remember is the Dead Boys and GG Allin t-shirts worn by the Spoilers throughout the film. I think I might have even ordered the Dead Boys t-shirt afterwards. Who bankrolled this movie, Infinity 1? Anyway, "Born To Lose" (not to be confused with the Johnny Thunders documentary of the same name, although I'm sure it will be) is a punk rock mockumentary, about the ups and downs (mostly downs) of a semi-fictional LA punk combo called the Spoilers, formerly known as the Have Nots. Both bands were led by Stevie Monroe (Joseph Rye), a classic British sleaze punk with an attitude as bad as his thick-assed accent. Born to Lose begins in the middle, with the Spoilers spinning their wheels, looking for a break. Stevie is swimming against the tide with his Johnny Thunders influenced razor rock band in a scene rife with straight edge hardcore kids and clueless band mates. He sees an opportunity to bring things to the next level when he meets up with Lisa (Elyse Ashton), an evil PR ("public relations", not Puerto Rican) girl that still dresses like a goth chick from 1987, who sees some glimmer of greatness in the Spoilers, and convinces a local label honcho to record them. Things go significantly wrong in no time, however, since Lisa is a junkie, and she quickly recruits Stevie into her zombie drug punk brigade. Together, the duo turn into a couple of pale faced creeps, and the band breaks up. End of story.

You've got to applaud Cawker for his sense of realism- that's what happens, after all, when drugs and sour girls are introduced into the pathology of a rock and roll band. There's no triumphant reunion tour in Japan in store for the Spoilers, as the film's title makes obvious. There's plenty of inter-band bickering along the way down though, as well as a smattering of disastrous gigs, interviews, and a dive-bombing recording session. All of which makes "Born to Lose" probably the most honest portrayal of what it's like being in a low level punk band to date. I mean, besides actually being in one, which is entirely too much trouble.

Shot in gritty, grainy, documentary style, "Born to Lose" throws you right in the middle of the rock and roll action, but they might have leaned a little too heavily on what it's really like, because the dialogue is a bitch to make out in a few scenes, and unlike being at the rock show, there's no one to scream right into you ear to clarify. Sub-titles would have aided the experience greatly. Otherwise, though, it's got all the requisite pathos and humor inherent to punk rock, and a killer soundtrack as well, featuring Texas Terri, Street walkin' Cheetahs, Lazy Cowgirls, and the Joneses, among others. And it's got cool t-shirts, as well.

Good but gets worse and worse

[the_mighty_one99 · 3/10 · 5 July 2002]

The movie had quite a 'humourous' beginning, and it gradually got worse and worse and the movie went on. The sound quality seemed to cut out through the movie and get louder and quieter at times, it ends off very weirdly, and with the lack of sound, it makes the ending especially messed up. However, its not all bad, if you can get past the low budget, the part of the story i understood was actually alright.

Why do so many bands die before making it big. Here it is.

[solarone · 8/10 · 20 October 2002]

Yea we know it's not "Born To Win", so going downhill with the band, some bad drugs and twisted sex has it's high and low points. If you want to join the boys for this Rock & Roll train wreck, check out how the big three are handled. First,Rock & Roll, the band stuff is the most interesting part of this movie, it has a real look at bands at this level of non-success. You can see this is where the filmmaker had the most fun and the most insight. The band members are not over done but real. Second, Sex, I wish this band had been more popular and had groupies. Mostly the lead singer and the girlfriend's(he would dump if he made it big) relationship. Could use more sex but what can't. Third, Drugs, This is the only part that we have seen to many times before. We needed a little more inspiration here. The filmmaker had fun with the R&R and the sex but not with the old monkey on the back. So in the end did you have fun going downhill with the band? Yea we had some laughs, some good times, some bad, some good songs and fighting robots. Sex,Drugs,Rock & Roll can be Dangerous. Don"t try this at home kids.

an excellent rock n roll film.

[WendyLatta · 10/10 · 19 June 2002]

If you want a cool, real, gritty rock film, look no further. This film rocks. Cool story, cool actors, groovy editing. A super cool, interesting peek into the life of a rock star. If you're sick of slicked up, polished down no-brainers designed to manipulate your emotions and want a little something edgier and more real, this is your film. DO yourself a favor and check it out!!

For people who don't like to shop.

[blueskynorm · 8/10 · 20 June 2002]

A film for punks and would be punks, a story for pukes, assholes and people who think they are neither. It's characters are for people a little tired of the "world mall" we are all forced to live in. It is not a film for people with a "ma and pa" rosey world view . It is not for the puking punks with an "ain't music fun" as they react to their ma and pa's rosey world for the weekend. Back to their real life; Monday at 8:00 am.

This film is for people who believe in something and are struck by the pain of not being able to reach it because they know they are the hurdle that must be over come. This film will dig at a hidden part of any human heart.

This film came from an honest place. Yes, at times, it was very rough in it's presentation (a great tip-off that it wasn't made by some unexamined film school, suburban cog or a son of a big wheel that really should really be a butcher, a baker or a candlestick maker). This film didn't posed (even though some of its characters did.) There was a inner hardness in some of the characters that was presented in a plain manner. Not everyone will like this style.

The events and images are not bright and happy (or even unnecessarily dark) but it has a respect for its subject. This is not another outsiders view of a world that is "cool". This is not another fake mockumentary made with a mind fueled by a Big Gulp diet.

There is no risk in laughing at someone you don't really know.

This film mocks itself. Born to Lose is fuelled by all that can be destructive about booze, drugs and human beings.

It is also not a glorification of a musical rant or a ranting personality. It's the blah, blah, blah of music and one ordinary guy.

Yes, some of the support acting seemed a lot like trying hard to act but somehow that didn't matter to the story or even the characters. There was always this sense of tumbling and falling with the events. It's as if the characters had seen their end - our end - and said screw it, "it just doesn't matter what I think or what I do". A viewer doesn't have to agree or disagree with this P.O.V. because the characters don't care if they do or don't or die.

"Born to Lose" shows you the dog s**t in the middle of the sidewalk and allows you to step around the s**t or jump on it and track it around your own 'hood.

I give it an 8 out of 10 (if this was baseball that would be a batting average of ......? Note: If you can answer a baseball trivia question you should skip this movie and go to the mall - shop or hang-out or shoot a mockumentary, it just doesn't matter.

The Agony and the Ecstasy

[mb-45 · 10/10 · 7 July 2002]

"Perhaps one has to have been "there" to fully grasp the intent of this film. It is in it's purest form, fully "agony" and "ecstasy" combined. One only has to let go, plug-in and go for "the ride" to truly appreciate where this film and this filmmaker are coming from. Because at the "end of the day", we are all simply "Born to Lose"

Thank you for one heck of a "ride", Doug Cawker, wherever you are.