Revenge of the Nerds

Revenge Of The Nerds came out during the 1980-86 R-rated teen flick bonanza that was coming out of Hollywood. While this one is much milder than some of the others, it does have it's moments of raunchiness.

The story is simple: two young men are attending Adams University; but find out quickly that their type (the gawky, glasses wearing, intellectuals) are treated like nobodies. In fact, any male who isn't a jock or a WASP isn't even allowed to live in the dorms. A group of "misfits" including the two main characters Lewis and Gilbert are forced to live in the gym. They do find accommodations but they continue to suffer humiliation and embarrassment from the Alpha Betas. And so, like in the title of the movie, they get REVENGE.

This is a movie that certainly can't be made today. Affirmative Action certainly would be in place to disallow discrimination on college campuses. The "villains" make fun of anyone who isn't like them. Still, when it's all said and done the film sends out a message that you should be proud of yourself and how you look and not let anybody tell you otherwise.

Yes, as an 80's film you'll see every requisite of the decade, but you'll also see something that's a portent of the future. The Nerds raid the women's dorm so they can cause a distraction so others can install cameras in the bedrooms and showers so they can be spied on. That has become very popular on the 'Net.

As for the cast: Oh my! You'll never see this intriguing mix too often. Like in Freaky Friday, you'll see a lot of actors who made it big on T.V.

Ted McGinley - The leader of the Alpha Betas. He's been on a zillion T.V. shows. I always thought he was more of a nerd than jock.

John Goodman - Head coach of the football team. He looked so lean. Along with Roseanne; he's a superb supporting actor in major motion pictures but a weak lead actor.

Anthony Edwards - Gilbert Lowell. Dr. Mark Greene on ER. Considered a heartthrob during those years.

Robert Carradine - Lewis Skolnick. Member of the Carradine acting family.

Timothy Busfield - Poindexter. Elliot Weston on "thitysomething".

Matt Salinger - Danny Burke. The son of "The Catcher In The Rye" writer J.D. Salinger.

Curtis Armstrong - Booger. Remember him from Moonlighting?

Even James Cromwell makes a brief appearance as Lewis' father.

As for the comments of Julie Montgomery's beauty; sure she's beautiful. Especially if you like the Kate Moss, Calista Flockhart, J. Cynthia Brooks, Paris Hilton, Samia Ghattas, etc. skin and bones body. I don't, myself.

All in all, this is still a good film that does its job. Just avoid the sequels. None of them are good and lack the bite of the first film.

Although it may be all a bit silly and quite clichéd, this is nevertheless a good film of its type, with main characters that are appealing and a great title song, scored by Thomas Newman, who would later compose the scores of movies such as 'American Beauty'. The film does not really go anywhere much at all, the jokes work only about half the time, and it is all a bit short on its content, but despite all of this, the film has a pleasant and rather enjoyable nature not common to the average college comedy, and this makes it a rather uniquely likable film overall. It may not be a great piece of cinema, but it is quite good entertainment.

Friends Lewis Skolnick (Robert Carradine) and Gilbert Lowe (Anthony Edwards) are excited for their first year at Adams College only to be met with the cruel reality that the social hierarchy dictates one's enjoyment and privileged at Adams with the two labeled "Nerds" by the lunkheaded but also established and cruel Alpha Beta fraternity of jocks overseen by Stan Gable (Ted McGinley), Danny Burke (Matt Salinger), and "The Ogre" (Donald Gibb). After the Alpha Betas take control of the freshmen dormitory (after burning down their own house and avoiding consequences due to their University connections), all Freshmen, including Lewis and Gilbert, are reduced to living in a cordoned off part of the college gym. While the university allows displaced freshmen to join fraternities, Lewis, Gilbert and a handful of others branded "nerds" due to race, age, and sexual orientation are rejected by all Adams fraternities. With no other options, the nerds band together and find a dilapidated house and restore it through teamwork and their intelligence, but with cruel vandalism and pranks by the Alpha Betas the nerds take it upon themselves to upend the Alpha Betas' reign of Adams College.

Revenge of the Nerds is a 1984 college comedy which took inspiration from a news paper article about Silicon Valley computer programmers gaining respect and applied the themes of the article to the framework of college and sexual shenanigans comedies that had become in the wake of films like Animal House and Porky's with their low budgets and high returns making them a routine staple of 80s movie-going throughout the decade. While there was some support for the film, notably from Siskel and Ebert who praised the likable human element in the two leads and themes of the movie, there were many others who lumped the film in with the other sex/college comedies of the time that were produced cheaply and quickly. Despite not attaining major support from the outset, the film nonetheless became a major hit earning $60 million domestically against a $6-8 million budget. Revenge of the Nerds does certainly have many of the crude and raunchy elements of its contemporaries, the thing that gives it an edge is in its characters and its anti-prejudice themes.

As noted by some of its supporters at the time, Robert Carradine and Anthony Edwards are perfectly matched and very likable together. While Carradine's Lewis provides the spark with his more mischievous smart alecky character, Edward's Gilbert serves as the emotional anchor as he's established as being the sweetest and most sensitive of the group and sort of the glue that holds their found family of nerds together. The rest of the nerd collective is made up of a variety of memorable personalities like pre-pubescent wunderkind Harold Wormser (Andrew Cassese), the crude and gross "Booger" (Curtis Armstrong), and the openly flamboyant and gay Lamar (Larry B. Scott) who despite embodying many of the exaggerations is positive for the time especially when you consider the nerds are welcoming and (relatively) none-judgmental of him. And of course, what good are your heroes without some loathsome villains?, and Revenge of the Nerds gives us some real loathsome heels in the form of Ted McGinley's Stan despite being the "smartest" of their group is also the most openly sadistic carrying an arrogant and superior smirk on his crafted features that makes him an excellent foil to the nerds as his confidence that he can't be punished for his actions makes his downfall all the more satisfying. The movie also has good supporting players such as Bernie Casey's U. N. Jefferson who as head of a national Black fraternity becomes an unlikely ally to the nerds, or John Goodman's Coach Harris who serves as a secondary antagonist ignoring or even outright encouraging the Alpha Beta's reprehensible behavior.

In terms of the movie's humor you could certainly say it was "of the time" (though filming location University of Arizona had reservations even back then of allowing filming due to the film's portrayal of campus life) and this has led to some reassessment since it's release. Here's the thing, comedy by its nature exists in a flexible reality where the absurd is often as acceptable as the mundane in order to convey jokes or serve story beats and that's the best way to look at Revenge of the Nerds, not as reality but as funhouse mirror image of reality that although distorted carries some truth. One of the notable aspects that has been re-evaluated is the romantic subplot between Lewis and Stan's girlfriend Betty played by Julia Montgomery and the means by which the two get together. Per Montgomery's role in the film, she felt Betty secretly wanted to be with Lewis and leave Stan (and there are hints of this in the movie, albeit in a slightly fleeting manner until a few minutes before the event happens) and much like the funhouse mirror exaggerations of certain persons on display, this is best approached as something of a spin on the "Sleeping Beauty" trope (and I mean the original version where it was MUCH more than a kiss....). This will depend on a person-by-person basis, but I feel like the movie places its values at the forefront (particularly in the ending climax) while sort of bending and twisting them when necessary for the sake of either a joke or plot mechanic.

While Revenge of the Nerds is certainly of the time in many ways, it also has its heart and occasionally head in the right place so it isn't cynical like Private Lessons or Preppies which helps to explain why it's endured in pop culture (and spawned an ill-advised media franchise). Definitely a good time, just be aware that like a funhouse mirror, the thing reflected is occasionally real but not necessarily reflective of reality.

I was late to the party, though I grew up on films like this I never got round to watching the Revenge Of The Nerds movies but I'm really glad I finally did.

I expected Porkys (1981), I expected a semi-brainless raunchy 1980's comedy but what I found was SO much more.

With an immensely talented varied cast ranging from those who became huge stars like John Goodman to underrated talents like Curtis Armstrong this near perfectly crafted comedy benefits from an outstanding cast who make the film that much more special.

Side splittingly funny, well written, excellent 80's soundtrack, feel good vibe and without excess T&A the Revenge Of The Nerds ticks every box twice and entertained me in a way I never expected and haven't experienced from a comedy like this in recent memory.

I personally cannot wait to get around to the sequels and find out what our Nerd friends get up to next.

When Louis and Gilbert head to college they think it'll all be different from high school. However they are branded nerds and, when the jocks burn their own dorm down, the nerds find themselves kicked out and forced to sleep in the gym. When the nerds form their own chapter of the Tri-Lam fraternity. When they are bullied continually they decide to take matters into their own hands and fight back with the Jock's own games.

If there's one genre in the world that I hate it's the American college jock/nerd comedy. Whether it be the Animal House or Porky's or more modern ones – I hate almost all of them! So when I watched this I watched it with a certain fear. However the plot makes redresses the balance by having us support the nerds! It's well plotted so that it isn't just them becoming just like the jocks but instead learning their own lessons. Of course it is rude at times and does fall into being just silly and slapstick, but it's mixed nicely with some good sentiment and more gentle laugh.

The cast is great (in retrospect). Anthony Edwards is a real surprise in this post-ER time. Likewise Busfield is strange after 30-something and West Wing. Less so but Moonlighting's Curtis Armstrong is funny to see. And lets not forget James Cromwell (or Jamie as he was called then!), John Goodman and black 1970's star Bernie Casey! The nerds are all good – rising above their caricatures to start to bring out characters.

Overall this is a spin on the frat-comedy so it is a little juvenile and silly but the fact that it is spun towards the nerds makes it that little bit refreshing to watch compared to so many where our `heroes' are arrogant, annoying jock-types who sponge off mummy and daddy just to get drunk at college. Not a great movie but much better than anything else post-Animal House - I'm with the nerds!