Netflix Challenge: Revenge of the Nerds

Among the small number of movies I find entertaining enough to justify repeated viewings is the 1984 screwball college comedy classic, Revenge of the Nerds.

Once we hit puberty, my best friend Erick and I would watch this movie every chance we got. And we weren't even high. I know we truly and soberly believed every bit of it was hilarious, but let's be honest, our devotion probably had as much to do with the Tri-Lambs' panty raid and Betty Child's ass than the witty repartee between Lamar Latrell and Wormser.

Until I hatched this scheme to watch every title on my Netflix instant queue, Nerds just sat there like an old jar of icy hamburger dills in the back of the fridge. I didn't necessarily plan to use it, but it made me feel safe knowing that it was there and ready if I ever needed it.

After watching it last night, I'm pleased to report that while some of the jokes have grown a little stale, there's still genius to be found in Revenge of the Nerds.

Filmed right smack dab in the middle of the Reagan '80s, an era ruled by hard-bodied heroes like Stallone and Schwarzenegger, Lewis Skolnik and Gilbert Lowe blazed the trail for what would be termed "geek chic" in the new millennium. You can get the commemorative bootleg T-shirts here.

We first meet Lewis and Gilbert as they head off to their freshmen year at Adams College. Maybe they should have gone to City Tech? Nah! Adams has the best computer department in the country!

Although the two nerds are hoping for a fresh start in college, they quickly learn that the campus is dominated by the good looking and athletic party crowd in the Greek system, specifically the Waspy Alpha Beta fraternity and Pi Delta Pi sorority. When the Alpha Betas burn down their frat house and push the freshmen out of their dormitory and onto cots in the college's gymnasium, Lewis, Gilbert and a group of other social castoffs (a sleazy nose picker, an allergy-prone geek, a Japanese guy with broken English, an effeminate gay African-American) band together to form their own fraternity.

Only one national fraternity agrees to give them a chance at a charter, the all black fraternity, Lambda Lambda Lambda. Sensing a brotherhood in the shared torment and injustice suffered at the hands of the white majority (a point driven home when the Alpha Betas burn "Nerds" on their front lawn), Tri-Lamb chief U.N. Jefferson agrees to make the nerds full-fledged members of the fraternity.

Using the talents that God gave each of them (and some muscle from their Tri-Lamb brothers), the nerds are able to rise above the Alpha Betas' brutality, win the prestigious homecoming carnival and control of the Greek Council. It's an underdog story for the ages. With plenty of T&A, to boot!

Supporting Evidence:

1: During the party the nerds' throw to impress U.N. Jefferson and the Lambda Lambda Lambda brass, Dudley "Booger" Dawson saves the day by breaking out the "Wonder Joints." Soon, everybody's high, horny and dancing to "Thriller."



Example 2: Sometimes the cheapest jokes are the best and what's cheaper than poking fun at the way Japanese speakers have trouble pronouncing Ls and Rs. And, WTF are "robster craws" anyway?




Gilbert: I just wanted to say that I'm a nerd, and I'm here tonight to stand up for the rights of other nerds. I mean, all our lives we've been laughed at and made to feel inferior. And tonight, those bastards, they trashed our house. Why? Cause we're smart? Cause we look different? Well, we're not. I'm a nerd, and uh, I'm pretty proud of it.

Lewis: Hi, Gilbert. I'm a nerd too. I just found that out tonight. We have news for the beautiful people. There's a lot more of us than there are of you. I know there's alumni here tonight. When you went to Adams you might've been called a spazz, or a dork, or a geek. Any of you that have ever felt stepped on, left out, picked on, put down, whether you think you're a nerd or not, why don't you just come down here and join us. Okay? Come on.

Gilbert: Just join us cause, no one's gonna really be free until nerd persecution ends.

Take that, instant queue! You just got one shorter.