Review of Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987) by Adam T — 12 Mar 2012

The first Revenge of the Nerds movie is a classic comedy which took the furniture of campus life-fraternities and sororities, dorms, bonfires, homecoming, computer labs and gyms-and used it as a background in which to root and then demolish the common stereotype of the nerd in a funny, joyous, prank filled story with a serious message about our common humanity.

This sequal is just dumb. Here the nerds are uprooted from Adams College (Home of the Atoms) and go to Fort Lauderdale Florida to attend a national Greek meeting. Predictably the Alpha Betas are there to oppress them by getting them kicked out of their hotel and forcing them to live in a run down dump.

This time around the jokes just don't click. And while the first film climaxed in an eloquent defense of the nerd delivered to the tune of Queens 'We Are the Champions' here the climax involves one of the nerds, Lewis, the one with the annoying laugh, punching out the head Alpha Beta.

It violates the logic of the films own stereotypes (a nerd would never punch someone, it's not nerd-like behaviour). In the first film we saw the nerds triumph over adversity but in this one they basically are shown to adopt the violence of the Alpha Betas.

It leaves a bad taste in your mouth and explains why this movie doesn't have anywhere near the charm or likability of the first one.