I thought it would be fun to throw in an old classic comedy like Revenge of the Nerds into the DVD player. While Revenge of the Nerds has been out since 1984, I couldn’t recall the last time I had seen it recently. I find it funny that movies (and television for that matter) that you watch later again in time always seem a lot less comedic, and I always find myself asking what did I ever laugh at? Revenge of the Nerds thankfully avoids this fate for the most part despite its age.
If for whatever reason you have not seen this film, basically it’s a comedy formed around the classic battle between jocks and nerds. The jocks wreck havoc with the nerds, and the nerds retaliate, and so on. The word nerd is used a lot, even though some of the characters depicted in their fraternity are not nerds, but just different. You have the nerds of course, but also a gay guy, an oriental guy whose English isn’t quite good, the guy known as “booger”, and I’m not elaborating…., and they are forced to create their own fraternity so they can garner a little respect and live amongst the rest of the students. I would go into detail of some of the events in the film, but this is a family show, so let’s just say this is definitely not suitable for kids. In Canada, this film is rated 18A, mainly because of the nudity and language used throughout the film.
What is nice about this release is the “Panty Raid” extras that are found on this disc. There’s a great featurette that has the director Jeff Kanew and several of the starring actors and actresses that goes behind the scenes and lets us know about the beginnings of how this movie started from a script and became this hit comedy classic. For instance, you are informed to what sound was used in the belching contest; apparently, true or not, they used the sounds of camels mating. It even has some deleted scenes, and an audio commentary. Also thrown in for good measure are the original television series pilot and the theatrical trailer.
I knew that since this was a comedy the audio and video aspect of the disc probably wasn’t a high concern. The video is still quite grainy and the audio has various clips and mic issues, but I didn’t really mind it being there, maybe for nostalgic reasons. The fact that this was done on a modest budget and created in 1984 allows it to be a little mediocre in these categories. I really didn’t mind. I’m sure some people would.
I was really surprised to see the amount of extras that were included given the age of the film, and it was nice to have some of the stars doing interviews to see how they have aged. Most notable as being absent was Anthony Edwards, I guess he was too busy….The I’m a Nerd, and I’m Pretty Proud of it featurette was the best part of the extras. Featuring the director and some of the actors, it was great to re-live what they were going through back then in 1984, and them not realizing the hit they were creating. Another nice touch was their candidness towards the feel of the studios and public towards the film, and how everyone eventually ended up being wrong on the success of the film. There’s also a nice audio commentary by Jeff Kanew, Robert Carradine, Timothy Busfield and Curtis Armstrong. One extra that I couldn’t get through was the TV pilot, which I didn’t find very funny, but I suppose it’s a nice touch nonetheless.
I must say it was nice to have another look at Revenge of the Nerds, it still is quite funny, and it really set the pace for the comedies we know today. The fact that it also includes some great extras makes it even easier to recommend this title to add to your collection.
Overall I give it 4/5