by Flack » Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:14 am
As a guy who enjoys the 1980s way more than the 2020s, I'm used to judging entertainment based on the context of when it was released. That being said, my wife and I watched the original Revenge of the Nerds this evening as our son is leaving for college next week, and... boy, a lot of that movie did not age well.
For those who never saw it (or need a quick refresher), nerdy freshman pals Gilbert and Lewis arrive at Adams college only to be immediately harassed by the Alpha Betas, the "jock" fraternity. After the Alpha Betas accidentally burn their own frat house down, Gilbert, Lewis, and the rest of the college's nerds are relocated to the gym while the jocks take over their dorms. Despite the nerds' "we just want to be left alone" attitudes, the Alpha Betas continue to harass them. When the nerds realize there will be no justice until they take over the Greek council, they join a fraternity (Lambda Lambda Lambda) and do battle against the Alpha Betas in the Greek Games, a series of events at the school's homecoming carnival.
I have fond memories of this film from seeing it while in high school. While I wasn't a nerd, I related more to them than the popular jocks in the film. Who doesn't love a good comeuppance story? I have to say though, as an adult, I certainly had a different take on some of the film's scenes.
The first scene that made me cringe was when the nerds, tired of sleeping in the gym, set out to find a place to live. In a montage, the nerds go door to door, looking for rooms to rent. The clip that didn't sit well with me was when one of the doors is answered by an overweight woman wearing lingerie, who tells the nerd that a bedroom is available, and notes "it's right next to mine. It'll be perfect for us," before brushing the nerd's cheek. The problem is, the nerd is Wormser, who is 11 years old. It's... uh, awkward.
The next scene that didn't age well is the party the nerds throw for Lambda Lambda Lambda. When music and alcohol fail to get things moving along, Booger breaks out "Wonder Joints," comically large joints. After everyone (including the adult Tri-Lamb guests) smoke enough weed, the party kicks into high gear. At least two of the nerds get laid, so I guess it works. I guess what bothers me the most with these scene is that (I believe) every Tri-Lamb is a freshman, which means a couple of adults stand by (and even partake) in drinking alcohol and smoking weed with a bunch of 18 year old kids. I get that it's a silly movie, but the scene would have worked better without adults at the party.
To exact revenge, the nerds launch a two-part plan against the Pi Delta Pis sorority. The first part, a panty raid in the girl's dorm, is largely a diversion (and a chance to show multiple topless Pis -- which again, at least in the story, we are to believe are under the age of 21). The nerds' real plan is to plant hidden cameras all throughout the dorm, which provide a live feed of the women's dorms. The nerds (again, including 11-year-old Wormser) stay awake all night watching feeds in the women's rooms and bathroom. We see them without bras, panties, and while sleeping topless. The whole thing feels creepy and invasive, and there's no point where the cameras are removed. Today we would call this a felony.
On to the Greek Games. The very first event, overseen by the dean of the college, is a 20 lap tricycle race in which the participants must drink a beer during each lap. As already stated, most if not all of the participants are under the legal drinking age -- not to mention the fact that drinking 20 beers in 20 minutes could actually kill you. It doesn't seem like the type of event that would be sanctioned by the dean.
Then there's the pie booth the nerds use to raise money. Their pies sell like hot cakes, and soon we see why. The nerds have lined the pie plates with naked pictures of lead cheerleader and Pi Delta Pi Betty Childs -- a topless picture they snapped with their surveillance cameras. Don't they call that revenge porn now or something? I'm guessing Mr. and Mrs. Childs aren't going to be real happy when they hear how the fall carnival went.
All of this culminates in a scene in which Betty Childs meets who she thinks is her boyfriend in the carnival's fun house, but ends up meeting a masked nerd (Lewis) instead, who proceeds to perform oral sex on her. I think this is... rape? When Betty discovers she has been (b)eaten by a nerd, her anger only lasts a few seconds when she decides he was pretty good at it. "All jocks think about is sports. All nerds think about is sex," he says. A few minutes later at the end of the movie, Betty has left her quarterback boyfriend for Lewis, because he's great at performing oral sex.
Any one of these scenes by itself might not have been too bad on their own, but 90 minutes of it didn't set too well.
As a guy who enjoys the 1980s way more than the 2020s, I'm used to judging entertainment based on the context of when it was released. That being said, my wife and I watched the original [i]Revenge of the Nerds[/i] this evening as our son is leaving for college next week, and... boy, a lot of that movie did not age well.
For those who never saw it (or need a quick refresher), nerdy freshman pals Gilbert and Lewis arrive at Adams college only to be immediately harassed by the Alpha Betas, the "jock" fraternity. After the Alpha Betas accidentally burn their own frat house down, Gilbert, Lewis, and the rest of the college's nerds are relocated to the gym while the jocks take over their dorms. Despite the nerds' "we just want to be left alone" attitudes, the Alpha Betas continue to harass them. When the nerds realize there will be no justice until they take over the Greek council, they join a fraternity (Lambda Lambda Lambda) and do battle against the Alpha Betas in the Greek Games, a series of events at the school's homecoming carnival.
I have fond memories of this film from seeing it while in high school. While I wasn't a nerd, I related more to them than the popular jocks in the film. Who doesn't love a good comeuppance story? I have to say though, as an adult, I certainly had a different take on some of the film's scenes.
The first scene that made me cringe was when the nerds, tired of sleeping in the gym, set out to find a place to live. In a montage, the nerds go door to door, looking for rooms to rent. The clip that didn't sit well with me was when one of the doors is answered by an overweight woman wearing lingerie, who tells the nerd that a bedroom is available, and notes "it's right next to mine. It'll be perfect for us," before brushing the nerd's cheek. The problem is, the nerd is Wormser, who is 11 years old. It's... uh, awkward.
The next scene that didn't age well is the party the nerds throw for Lambda Lambda Lambda. When music and alcohol fail to get things moving along, Booger breaks out "Wonder Joints," comically large joints. After everyone (including the adult Tri-Lamb guests) smoke enough weed, the party kicks into high gear. At least two of the nerds get laid, so I guess it works. I guess what bothers me the most with these scene is that (I believe) every Tri-Lamb is a freshman, which means a couple of adults stand by (and even partake) in drinking alcohol and smoking weed with a bunch of 18 year old kids. I get that it's a silly movie, but the scene would have worked better without adults at the party.
To exact revenge, the nerds launch a two-part plan against the Pi Delta Pis sorority. The first part, a panty raid in the girl's dorm, is largely a diversion (and a chance to show multiple topless Pis -- which again, at least in the story, we are to believe are under the age of 21). The nerds' real plan is to plant hidden cameras all throughout the dorm, which provide a live feed of the women's dorms. The nerds (again, including 11-year-old Wormser) stay awake all night watching feeds in the women's rooms and bathroom. We see them without bras, panties, and while sleeping topless. The whole thing feels creepy and invasive, and there's no point where the cameras are removed. Today we would call this a felony.
On to the Greek Games. The very first event, overseen by the dean of the college, is a 20 lap tricycle race in which the participants must drink a beer during each lap. As already stated, most if not all of the participants are under the legal drinking age -- not to mention the fact that drinking 20 beers in 20 minutes could actually kill you. It doesn't seem like the type of event that would be sanctioned by the dean.
Then there's the pie booth the nerds use to raise money. Their pies sell like hot cakes, and soon we see why. The nerds have lined the pie plates with naked pictures of lead cheerleader and Pi Delta Pi Betty Childs -- a topless picture they snapped with their surveillance cameras. Don't they call that revenge porn now or something? I'm guessing Mr. and Mrs. Childs aren't going to be real happy when they hear how the fall carnival went.
All of this culminates in a scene in which Betty Childs meets who she thinks is her boyfriend in the carnival's fun house, but ends up meeting a masked nerd (Lewis) instead, who proceeds to perform oral sex on her. I think this is... rape? When Betty discovers she has been (b)eaten by a nerd, her anger only lasts a few seconds when she decides he was pretty good at it. "All jocks think about is sports. All nerds think about is sex," he says. A few minutes later at the end of the movie, Betty has left her quarterback boyfriend for Lewis, because he's great at performing oral sex.
Any one of these scenes by itself might not have been too bad on their own, but 90 minutes of it didn't set too well.