So often when I attempt to describe comedies to you, they come off way more serious than they are played.  I also do not intend them this way.  I have complained about this before, but Revenge of the Nerds (1984) gave me a new perspective on this issue.  The film is one of those raunchy college films, initiated, I would argue, by Animal House (1978).  If there is a movie of a similar ilk that predates it, then feel free to correct me.  I am also convinced that many people watch these kinds of things because they want to see the debauchery.  In turn, they help create this stereotype about higher education that I believe society has tried its best to make a reality, unfortunately.  The placement of that adjective at the end of the last sentence should clue you in that this is the opinion of a fellow nerd.  With all this, I would say to watch Revenge of the Nerds as more of a social drama.  Actually, I do not recommend seeing it, at least not broadly.  Hopefully, the rest of this will take care of any confusion you might have.

The first of our title group we meet in Revenge of the Nerds is Gilbert Lowe (Anthony Edwards).  He is laying in bed, nervous about leaving, and waiting for his best friend, Lewis Skolnick (Robert Carradine), to arrive.  They are going to travel to their freshman year at Adams College together, though Gilbert is uneasy about leaving his mom alone.  He has other concerns, too, mainly about their lack of social standing.  Still, Lewis is confident that things will be different for them, and it provides an emotional boost for Gilbert.  Their first indication that their treatment would be little different than what they experienced in high school is when they pass by the fraternity house of Alpha Beta.  It is a group of guys who are all popular athletes, jocks as they are commonly known, and they hurl the slur “NERDS!” at Gilbert and Lewis as they pass.  I did not use the word “slur” by accident.  The situation does not improve.  Though they get into their dorm room without issue, they are not long for this address.  This is because the Alpha Betas manage to burn down their building during a party with their sister sorority, Pi Delta Pi.  Because the fraternity are basically all football players, and Coach Harris (John Goodman) demands that his athletes have housing, Dean Ulrich (David Wohl) acquiesces and gives them the freshman dormitory.  Instead of it being a calm and organized move, the Alpha Betas storm the rooms like lunatics and bodily throw everyone and everything out.  Now refugees (again, there is a point to my terminology), the survivors are forced to encamp on the school’s basketball court, at least until their season starts.  Dean Ulrich’s ridiculous solution is to allow freshman to join in Greek life, with them choosing from among the first-year students.  There are a small group left over, mostly because their brains make them undesirable, hence the title.  Gilbert and Lewis become their de facto leaders, and they take the lead in finding a new home for the rest.  Lewis discovers a fixer-upper, and when they do just that, even the Pi Delta Pi’s are impressed.  How do the Alpha Betas respond?  By throwing a rock through their window with “Nerds Go Home” written on it.  This kind of treatment had been reserved for minorities in the South, but here we see it used against a different group of social outcasts.  Gilbert and Lewis bring their troubles to the Greek Life council, but are told that because they are not a fraternity, their complaints have no weight.  I will let you work out who it is that is in charge of the council.  What Gilbert and Lewis’ friends need is national recognition from an official fraternity.  The only one that they do not send their picture to is Lambda Lambda Lambda (Tri-Lambs for short), thus earning Gilbert and Lewis a meeting with the president of the traditionally African American fraternity, U. N. Jefferson (Bernie Casey). He is about to dismiss them for their nerdiness, too, until he is reminded that everyone who applies is at least guaranteed a trial approval.  To gain full acceptance, the new Tri-Lambs must host a party, and one people would want to attend.  With President Jefferson in attendance, things do not start well.  Not even Gilbert’s new girlfriend, Judy (Michelle Meyrink), inviting her Omega Mu sorority sisters can liven things up.  Indeed, it is only when Dudley Dawson (Curtis Armstrong), who strangely insists on being called “Booger,” introduces marijuana to the proceedings that things begin to let loose.  Still, it is dampened when the combined forces of Alpha Beta and Pi Delta Pi unleash a herd of pigs in the house.  Yet, this backfires on the Tri-Lamb’s persecutors when their revenge on Alpha Beta and Pi Delta Pi impresses the Tri-Lamb national board, earning the Adams College chapter the recognition they seek.  This is not enough, however, to gain them redress for the crimes committed against them, even when they have the word “NERDS” burned in effigy on their front lawn.  Instead, they concentrate their efforts on winning the Homecoming Carnival.  There are a series of events that I am not going to enumerate.  The long and short of it is that they come out victorious, meaning they shall have the presidency of the Greek Council the following year.  Once more, the Alpha Betas, whipped into a frenzy by Coach Harris, respond like the depraved individuals they are, trashing the Tri-Lamb house.  Thinking they have had the last laugh, the Alpha Betas go to their pep rally for their game the following day as if nothing happened.  Gilbert heads there, determined to give them a piece of his mind.  The Alpha Betas try to intimidate Gilbert, but he receives support by the timely arrival of President Jefferson and a number of large compatriots, and then the rest of the Tri-Lambs.  Gilbert proceeds to deliver a speech talking about how proud he is to be a nerd, seconded by Lewis, and everyone rallies to him, except, of course, the Alpha Betas.

What is supposed to be funny in Revenge of the Nerds are the drugs and sex in which they engage.  Is it not hysterical that Lewis disguises himself as the Alpha Beta leader and college quarterback Stanley Harvey “Stan” Gable (Ted McGinley) in order to have sex with Betty Childs (Julie Montgomery)?  Betty, by the way, is Stan’s girlfriend, and one could construe Lewis’ actions as rape.  She seems okay with it, though, and falls in love with him, which is also played for laughs. Whatever it is you make of the humor, it perpetuates awful stereotypes about a group of people that have traditionally been bullied.  This is why I chose to describe the movie as I did.  If you look at it as a film dealing with a persecuted group, then you can begin to have sympathy for them.  Sympathy is Christ-like, of course, but I would be remiss if I did not admit to the movie eliciting in me memories of similar wounds I endured.  These are the kinds of traumatic events that shape us as people, and only God can truly heal.  There is nothing here that acknowledges the spiritual nature of these experiences, but they are real.  Should we brush them aside because it appears that the Tri-Lambs do, in fact, have their revenge?  Gilbert’s words at the end speak to how God sees all of us.  It is us that view ourselves with dividing lines between jocks and nerds.  To God, we are all His children, and each of us precious to Him.  A film like this highlights how disordered is our society, which is tragic.

I know there will be those that read this review of Revenge of the Nerds, especially if you are already familiar with it, and think I am taking it way too seriously.  All I can say is that truly practicing one’s Faith like mine gives a different perspective.  It is sad to see people like nerds, if you want to persist in calling them that, being treated in this manner.  I mean that even in light of their apparent triumph.  These so-called outcasts engaging in the kinds of things you see here is not good.  I now understand why this movie had previously been hard for me to find.