Revenge Of The Nerds Review

MPAA Rating: R
Released: 1984

Featuring some gross out gags and ample quantities of T&A, it would be easy to dismiss 1984's Revenge of the Nerds as just another teen sex comedy. But under its raunchy surface resided a message of inclusion and hope for the underdog, as a band of society's misfits gather together to proudly wear the title of "nerd" with honor and fight back against the testosterone-filled, intolerant Alpha Beta fraternity.

There is much promise for hilarity with such a premise, but can Revenge of the Nerds live up to its potential? Read on to find out…

Louis Skolnick (Robert Carradine) and Gilbert Lowell (Anthony Edwards) are looking forward to their first year in Adams College, but their jubilation soon turns to concern when they are suddenly ousted from their college dorms. Why? The Alpha Beta fraternity, consisting of brain dead jocks, accidentally burned their own house down during a party, so college officials allowed them to take the freshmen dorm as their own.

Now the displaced freshmen are forced to live on cots in the middle of a gymnasium… that is, unless they manage to join a fraternity. Most of the freshmen have no problem doing so, but Skolnick, Lowell and a group of other misfits and nerds aren't so lucky. So they join together to rent out an abandoned house and form their own fraternity: The Lambda Lambda Lambda. In this fraternity, tolerance and open-mindedness are embraced, so outcasts such as the gross and perpetually horny Booger (Curtis Armstrong), the flamboyantly gay Lamar Latrell (Larry Scott) and the nerdy Asian Toshiro Takashi (Brian Tochi) can gather together and form one happy family.

But this new fraternity isn't welcomed in the Greek Council that is headed by the nerd-hating Alpha Beta fraternity, so the nerds decide the only way they'll get a fair shake is to displace the current president, Stan Gable (Ted McGinley) by winning the Homecoming Carnival (the fraternity that wins the carnival selects the new president).

Naturally this isn't any ordinary carnival – it's an 80's college one, so events such as a belching content and a 20-lap tricycle race where each rider must chug a beer before each lap rule the day. Using a combination of intelligence and sexuality (you'll have to see it for yourself), the nerds win the day in the end.

Revenge of the Nerds is regarded by many to be one of the hallmark comedies of the decade, and it's understandable why. Defiantly crude and vulgar, this film has no problems reveling in full-frontal nudity during panty raids or poking fun at just about any racial, sexual or societal stereotypes that exist.

I didn't watch this film for many years until recently, but nostalgia provided me a very positive feeling about Revenge of the Nerds. I sat back and prepared myself to relive what I recalled as being one of the best 80's comedies around… and finished the movie somewhat disappointed. Nostalgia, in this case, let me down.

Now don't get me wrong – Revenge of the Nerds is a good comedy with plenty of funny moments. Much joy can be found in watching Booger's perpetually stoned state, Takashi's fascination with "hair pies" and a constant exchange of pranks such as slipping Liquid Heat into the Alpha Beta's member's jockstraps. But in between the moments of hilarity are periods where the movie drags a bit, as if the stars' nerdy behavior in itself is enough to carry laughs.

The acting is remarkably good for a comedy of this nature; there's a very wide cast of characters that each possess their own eccentricities. This variety helps keep things interesting, for I suspect if the movie focused too much on any one character it would end up grating on the nerves. The "scene-stealer" award goes to Donald Gibb, whose portrayal of Ogre, an Alpha Beta member that nearly froths at the mouth at just the sight of a nerd, is positively hilarious. The movie is worth watching just for his scenes alone.

In the end if you enjoy crass humor and beautiful women – the standards for any successful 80's teen sex comedy – then you'll definitely want to catch Revenge of the Nerds. It's not comic perfection, but it's darned entertaining.

Movie rating: 7 stars

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