Revenge of the nerds, in film and in life.
Curiosity got the better of me, and I watched 'Revenge of the Nerds' (1984) to see if it was really as bad as I remembered it. It was, but mostly it was just tedious.
Critics were bothered by the film's "stereotyping" but that was the least of its problems. I remembered the detail about the nude pictures on the bottoms of pie tins (securing the Tri-Lambs the contest win) but had forgotten that the nerds physically invaded the sorority house and harassed the women in their showers.
The nerds were actually starting to enjoy some success with Judy's sorority sisters, the Omega Mus, despite the latter being dismissed as "pigs" by (ironically) Booger, the sentiment apparently being shared among the rest of the nerds. The Alpha Betas' prank of releasing actual pigs into the gathering is fairly mild in comparison with the nerds' "revenge" that it ostensibly justifies.
The film is a constant stream of juvenile pranks and vulgarity. The boob jokes got real old real fast; I didn't even find them funny when I watched the film as a young person.
More than anything else, it's a preview of what the next 40 years would bring, with a cultural elite dominated by socially stunted technocrats. The nerds' use of a hidden video camera to first secretly spy on, and later publicly humiliate, the sorority women is the perfect metaphor for times to come. (A close runner-up is the scene with Lewis concealing his identity with a Darth Vader mask to have sex with Betty. He is quite literally channeling his Dark Side.) In the end, the nerds are saved by the black fraternity, who supply the much-needed coolness, street cred, and muscle. There too, the film is prescient. [289]
Critics were bothered by the film's "stereotyping" but that was the least of its problems. I remembered the detail about the nude pictures on the bottoms of pie tins (securing the Tri-Lambs the contest win) but had forgotten that the nerds physically invaded the sorority house and harassed the women in their showers.
The nerds were actually starting to enjoy some success with Judy's sorority sisters, the Omega Mus, despite the latter being dismissed as "pigs" by (ironically) Booger, the sentiment apparently being shared among the rest of the nerds. The Alpha Betas' prank of releasing actual pigs into the gathering is fairly mild in comparison with the nerds' "revenge" that it ostensibly justifies.
The film is a constant stream of juvenile pranks and vulgarity. The boob jokes got real old real fast; I didn't even find them funny when I watched the film as a young person.
More than anything else, it's a preview of what the next 40 years would bring, with a cultural elite dominated by socially stunted technocrats. The nerds' use of a hidden video camera to first secretly spy on, and later publicly humiliate, the sorority women is the perfect metaphor for times to come. (A close runner-up is the scene with Lewis concealing his identity with a Darth Vader mask to have sex with Betty. He is quite literally channeling his Dark Side.) In the end, the nerds are saved by the black fraternity, who supply the much-needed coolness, street cred, and muscle. There too, the film is prescient. [289]