Revenge of the Nerds

Revenge of the Nerds (1984)

Runtime: 90 minutes

Directed by: Jeff Kanew

Starring: Robert Carradine, Anthony Edwards, Timothy Busfield, Ted McGinley, Donald Gibb

From: 20^th Century Fox

I apologize for this being up later than planned but today was real long and I did not get to much sleep last night, and I do not feel 100% either. In short, early this morning-soon before I was going to go to bed-I found out that I was going to become an uncle to twins, rather than it happening after this month as planned. Needless to say it was hard to get sleep with that revelation. But yes, everyone is fine now.

I decided to go and review this, which I hadn't before; that's a surprise as this is one I've seen all or parts of many times before and I've always enjoyed, from the first time I saw it at probably too young an age to now as an adult. I am sure everyone knows the story of how this is about a pair of nerds meeting up with a bunch of outcasts (including someone who is Japanese and another guy who is flamboyantly gay; hey, it was the 80's...)-including some people you periodically see throughout but they're never given any lines and those nerds are just random dudes, such as that guy that looks like Harpo Marx-and they end up feuding with a frat filled with jock preps known as the Alpha Betas at the fictional Adams College.

Turns out, I still really enjoy the film. Sure, it's funny often, there's plenty of female nudity and there are many memorable lines and moments. But what I dig about this is that all the characters are enjoyable, from the good guys to even the shitheel villains. Everyone is fine, from the people I mentioned to small roles from the likes of Bernie Casey and John Goodman as a stereotypical football coach.

Sure, some things in this movie wouldn't fly in 2012 (the good guys being voyeurs and installing cameras to spy on a sorority for double-crossing them, the lead guy going in disguise and pretending to be the bad guy so that he could have sex with the bad guy's girl... that's not in the best taste) but that's OK and you shouldn't get too mad about it, I say. I mean, you can't stay mad when you see such 80's things as that finale rap/song thing, dancing while stoned to Thriller, the fashion, and the new wave-esque 80's ditties you hear throughout. Like I said, I still really enjoy this film. The sequels... talk about "diminishing returns" but maybe one of these days I'll talk about those.

I'll be back Saturday night, unless I keep on feeling crappy.