“American Loser” begins, oddly enough, with Nichols now ten years sober. The structure, to use the term loosely, is confounding, since alcohol is only one of many problems in his life.

Cam, a desperate loser (played credibly by the comedian Jim Gaffigan), has seen his American dream go kaput. Canned from his job, divorced from his wife (Blanchard), and allowed only court-ordered ...

Filmmaker Amy Heckerling is pretty brave when it comes to naming her movies. With titles like "Clueless" and "Loser," she sets herself up. But while the former was a winning and pop-culturally ...

In 1971, a 21-year-old Jeff Bridges starred in a TV movie called In Search of America, about a young man from a well-to-do suburban family who decides to skip college and go off across the country ...

In American cinema, losers are a subversion of the American dream. They poke holes in the idea that if you work hard and be the best you can be things will fall into place.