Revenge of the Nerds is an iconic film, one that perfectly encapsulates what it meant to be a nerd in 1984. You were spat on, humiliated, bullied, and sure as Hell never got the girl. Of course, by the end of the film the tables had turned, which is why it spoke to so many at the time who. Well, that and it was R-rated, quotable as Hell, and features one of the all-time great concert sequences (“We’re Lambda Lambda Lambda and Omega Moo!”). This has been a long time coming, but a reboot, or reimagining is in the works from Seth MacFarlane and some interesting collaborators.
Variety reports MacFarlane is teaming up with the Keith and Kenny Lucas on a new Revenge of the Nerds movie. The Lucas’ are identical twin bros best known for their appearance on 22 Jump Street. They will not only star in the film but co-write the script with Alex Rubens, a writer on Rick and Morty. MacFarlane will produce under his Fuzzy Door label.
The original Revenge of the Nerds would NEVER be made by a major studio today. The comedy centered on a group of nerds, with Robert Carradine, Anthony Edwards, Timothy Busfield, and Larry B. Scott, taking on the jocks of the Alpha Betas (including John Goodman, Ted McGinley and Donald Gibb!) at Adams College. So much about this would never work now. There was a scene where one of the nerds has sex with a woman under false pretenses, a gay character that is about as awful a stereotype as possible, and a panty raid scene that, while hilarious, is super problematic. The two ‘Nerds’ movies combined for about $90M, and spawned two more TV sequels that were really terrible.
The Lucas Brothers are an interesting choice for this. They’ve become huge multimedia stars in the years since 22 Jump Street, and wrote the upcoming film Judas and the Black Messiah starring Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield. There’s also a film they’re working on with Phil Lord and Chris Miller.
What it means to be a nerd has changed a lot since the ’80s. No longer a stigma, being a nerd is considered cool now and perhaps that’s what this new film will deal with. Otherwise, there aren’t a lot of details available to go on.
