By: The Dweeb

March 2007

DVD Features Video: 1.85:1 Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0, Dolby Digital Mono, Spanish Dolby Digital Mono, French Dolby Digital Mono  Audio Commentary by Director Jeff Kanew and Actors Robert Carradine, Timothy Busfield and Curtis Armstrong I’m A Nerd, And I’m Pretty Proud Of It Featurette Revenge Of The Nerds Television Pilot Deleted Scenes Theatrical Trailer Theatrical release: 7/20/1984 DVD released on 3/06/2007 by 20th Century Fox Running time of 90  minutes Starring: Anthony Edwards, Robert Carradine, Bernie Casey, Ted McGinley, Timothy Busfield Director: Jeff Kanew Plot: At Adams College, the jocks rule the school from their house on high, the Alpha Beta fraternity. So when a group of socially-challenged misfits try to go Greek, they’re instantly rejected by every house on campus. Deciding to start their own fraternity to protect their outcast brothers, the campus nerds soon find themselves in a battle royale as the Alpha Betas try to crush their new rivals. But in this game of brains vs. brawn, the nerds devise the perfect plan to gain the upper hand… and their rightful place at the top of the social ladder!

Ah classic 80′s cheese seems to be back in style these days. Somewhere between Animal House and PCU, combing the depths of raunch comedy lies Revenge of the Nerds, and the seemingly endless parade of sequels and failed spin offs. Lets be honest here, we’ve seen this flick a bazillion times in its edited glory on late night cable, and its a bit of the guilty pleasure. If you haven’t seen the original, now Fox has provided that opportunity for you in the newly minted Panty Raid edition for those of you who didn’t make it into the theatre at the time. Uh, and I would have to say that is the majority of us.

So, sit back with a glass of wine and enjoy the artistry. A film featuring the escapades and the triumph of the nerds, and in all honesty a tax write off for Fox. Who can forget such memorable moments like Booger (Curtis Armstrong) and the belch from hell or Arnold Poindexter (Timothy Busfield) rockin out with his violin. I’m sure many of the cast members would like for you to forget that they were in this flick. Well too bad! Somehow everyone seems to remember this group of actors from this film, they just can’t get away from it. Even though its terrible, we love it anyway.

Why is that? Because we can connect with the characters that’s why. We all know what its like to be made fun of and picked on, we were all kids at one point. So there’s this unconscious connection to this group of misfit geeks, and we want to cheer them on. Take that you bastard Alpha Betas! Watching this really for the first time uncut was in all actuality hilarious. I’m not sure what it was, something not sitting right from dinner maybe, but I just had to chuckle at this movie. Nerds! Neeeeeeeeeeeeeerds! Ogre rocks.

This DVD edition for Nerds isn’t too bad actually. The print is fairly clean, so it looks and sounds good. The extras provided are fairly decent, the usual stuff like trailers and deleted scenes are on it. Do check out the retrospective featurette on the legacy of the film. Its sort of a where are they now kind of thing and its actually really damn funny. You can safely skip the television pilot, that’s just too embarrassing to watch frankly. Oh and by the way, this film, and even the DVD menu itself is not kid safe so be careful! An interesting choice for menu backgrounds I do have to say.

Reviewer’s Opinion: RENT IT!!