Revenge of the Nerds (1984)
I am ashamed the admit that I am beginning to develop a rating scale in my head for these raunchy boob comedies. I suppose that at the top is National Lampoon’s Animal House and at the very bottom is Porky’s. The imitators of both seem to float at or near the bottom but somewhere in the middle are likable movies like Bachelor Party and Revenge of the Nerds.
The scale is rated partially on content and partially on our ability to tolerate the guys in the hero role. The guys in Porky’s for example are vulgar, hateful and mean-spirited. The guys in Animal House are lovable clowns who like to party and pull clever pranks. That’s kind of where I am with Revenge of the Nerds, a revenge comedy about a group of twerps, geeks, losers, dweebs who conform to the stereotype but are lovable none-the-less – and they’re also target zero for the jocks.
The major players are Lewis (Robert Carridine) and Gilbert (Anthony Edwards) who arrive at Adams College with the mistaken idea that these will be the best years of their lives, that they have arrived at an endless den of partying and babes. Well, they’re half right. There are parties and there are babes but they are not exactly part of that world. Actually, on their first week, they are thrown out of their housing by the jocks who have burned down their own house in a frat stunt. The nerds are moved into the gym and one of the best sight-gags involves the guys trying to sleep on cots on one half while the basketball team tries to practice on the other.
Eventually, they get tired of being picked on, laughed and put down and decide to have their revenge. This includes not only panty raids but also screwing over the jocks at the college Olympic games with a belching contest and taking them out with a laser lightshow performance.
This movie is just fun, largely because the characters are so likable. We get to know them just enough, they stand by each other, they stand up for one another and they form a brotherhood that is kind of sweet in its own way. This also should be noted to be in the middle of a movie with just as much rude, crude and raunchy behavior as Bachelor Party. It is hard not to like this movie zits and all.