Revenge Of The Nerds II: Nerds In Paradise

Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987)

Runtime: 89 minutes

Directed by: Joe Roth

Starring: Some of the cast from the first, along with the likes of Courtney Thorne-Smith, Bradley Whitford, and James Hong

From: 20th Century Fox

It was about time I reviewed this movie. I've seen both this and the original a good number of times in my life, but I hadn't watched this since before I started doing this blog way back in 2009. Sure, the original is better, but that doesn't mean this isn't chopped liver.

In the past I reviewed the first Revenge of the Nerds. To be brief, it's a movie I have watched many times before and despite it having some material that is more problematic now than it was back in the mid 80's, it's still a motion picture I can enjoy. The sequel is not something I have on as high a pedestal, yet I always thought it as being fine. After this latest viewing, my opinion was confirmed.

The plot is quite similar to the first one; many of the key Nerds have returned, and this time they are in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida for a national conference of fraternities, and once again the Alpha Beta jock fraternity hates all geeks so those two factions feud with each other. There are few surprises and the movie is not as hilarious as the original. It's also not as vulgar due to this having a PG-13 rating, although that isn't necessarily bad and at least there isn't any scenes that come off as really gross in these modern times. If you enjoyed the first one, you may enjoy this too, even if on a lesser level.

What helps is that they shot on location in Ft. Lauderdale, and that provides natural scenery. In addition, some of the supporting cast is comprised of familiar faces. Courtney Thorne-Smith as the leading lady did a swell job of being likable; to be honest, she also looked awfully nice in a bikini. While not the most dignified role for him, it's always nice seeing James Hong in a movie. Here, both Bradley Whitford and Ed Lauter were great at playing real detestable human beings-then again, they are always great in such roles-so they were perfect as the villains.

At least this was better than the lame 3rd and 4th movies, which were made for TV and total yawnfests. I don't even consider them in my personal canon...