Review of Revenge of the Nerds (1984) by Stuart M — 02 Dec 2014

A rather second rate Animal House knock-off. The jokes are mostly unfunny and the jocks vs. nerds plot so overblown it loses that slight air of believability that makes Comedies funny. Perhaps relatability is the right word? Whatever it is this film doesn't have it. Although it doesn't seem to realize it both sides are presented just as bad. The nerds don't defeat the jocks through superior brainpower but the same dirty tricks the film treats as travesties when others do them. It's one of those cases where the film is too unself-aware to recognize that it's perpetuating tired stereotypes and doing so in a boring and cliched way.

The film also left me more disgusted than Animal House did. Given that that film featured a bunch of boys pretending to be close friends of a dead girl to get into the pants of some other ones that's an impressive feat. At least Animal House was funny shocking. It knew the characters were horrible. That was the whole joke. This film thinks its characters are great since they are all the oppressed outcasts. And apart from its horrible leftover 1940s Japanese stereotype it's good at making its guys seem like they represent anyone oppressed by society. The problem is that everything is fair game if they're the ones doing it, including selling nude photos they got from a camera they installed in the girls dorm and rape. Yes, pretending to be someone's boyfriend and having sex with them counts as rape. It's counted as rape since the days when Zeus went around impregnating wives everywhere. The fact that nobody seems to notice the problems with this and treat it as a big joke is a large part of the problem.

It's very much a film of its time and thank God that time has passed.