Review of The Gamers: Dorkness Rising (2008) by Jeff W — 03 Jan 2010

Despite my unabashed geekiness I think I only turned this one on to see an acquaintance's name in the credits. Fantasy in film and television is so often over-camped and marred when relying on the roleplaying audience, that I was afraid this would be a rather painful (if not unrealistic) poke at the hobby. Hitting too close to home, y'know.

In the end, I watched the whole thing, and caught myself laughing out loud throughout most of the film. Is it a super low production value campy fan made dork film? Yes. Will it only appeal to audience members who've played and understand roleplaying games? Probably. But... the huge array of inside jokes, party stereotypes, and a surprisingly witty script kept me entertained and giggling throughout.

I cringed. A lot. Perhaps especially due to my dislike of cookie-cutter D&D. And I think there were times when the film's focus on the "real world" became too obvious and tried too hard to be a romcom or something. And some of the "in game" characters were predictably awful. So don't hold your breath. But if you're a geek like me and have found something funny about your male friends playing sexy female characters in your roleplaying games, you'll probably get a good kick out of this one.