Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love

Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love
1992

Spoiler Alert: The nerds win. They win the day. They overcome adversity and some powerful opponents—one of whom is ultimately shunned, while the rest renounce their former nerd-hating ways, during one final celebratory chant along/dance scene, accompanied by a Japanese rendition of “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair” sung by Asian character actor, Brian Tochi. Imagine, if you so choose, the final celebration scene from Return of the Jedi reshot in a San Fernando Valley residential backyard with budget that’s shoestring even by porn standards.

You can’t fault the filmmakers for choosing to rather faithfully rehash the plot arc of every other film in the Revenge of the Nerds franchise. Without a strong foundation of cinematic nostalgia, after all, it’s hard to imagine this fourth entry in the series existing, a fact that is evidently more than a little clear to those behind this curious little film.

In 1992, 20th Fox opted to reboot the Revenge of the Nerds franchise, eight years after the release of the original film. The intentions of the third movie are fairly clear from its subtle, “The Next Generation.” Fox was going full-on Picard on its beloved nerd characters. The studio was able to rope in a number of originals for the direct-to-TV sequel, including Robert Carradine (Lewis Skolnick), Curtis Armstrong (Dudley "Booger" Dawson), Julia Montgomery (Betty Childs), and Ted McGinley (Stan Gable), who was also co-starring in Fox’s Married…With Children. Anthony Edwards and Timothy Busfield smartly opted to sit the film out (the former was filming a pilot for some TV show about a hospital).

Even the staunchest of RoTN fans will most likely readily admit that Fox and company squandered the considerable they had built up with parts one and two. Two years later, however, Fox was at it again with Revenge of the Nerds IV. This time, however, the filmmakers eschewed any attempts to push the “next generation” concept (though a small handful of the “beloved” characters introduced in part three did, in fact, return, including the morbidly obese Scottish character roundly portrayed by John Pinette).

Carradine, Armstong, Montgomery, and McGinley also return, as do Tochi, Larry B. Scott (Lamar Latrell), and Donald Gibb (Ogre). Mc Ginley, no doubt locked into the sequel through Fox contractual obligation, finds himself in a situation similar to the one used to kind of, sort of include Edwards in the second movie. Stan Gable never actually interacts with any of the characters, spending the entire film in bed with chicken pox.

It’s only one a number of odd choices made by the filmmakers. First and foremost is the decision to make Booger the star of the film. No doubt it was the character’s breakout subplot in the second Nerds film, studying at the feet of his long-lost mentor, Snotty, which first demonstrated the his true depths. For part four, Booger is the titular “nerd in love,” marrying Omega Mu member Jeanie Humphrey (portrayed by Corinne Bohrer, who spent the bulk of the 90s doing single episode appearances as awkward characters on network TV shows). Armstrong, for his part, turns in strong performance, giving a number of daytime Emmy caliber monologs during the film, no doubt hoping for a prominent role in the sadly still unmade fifth installment.

A number of touches keep the film interesting, at the very least, including a talking ultrasound monitor ported around by Skolnick; Latrell’s overly aggressive pursuit of an uninterested wedding planner; and a subplot involving a child that may or may not by Booger’s illegitimate spawn. There are also four or five cast-wide dance scenes and a slow motion food fight to “Blue Danube” tossed in for good measure, cementing the film’s place as a poor man’s poor man’s Animal House.

It all adds up to a film that has the rare distinction of being a sequel so bad that it will almost certainly cloud the viewer’s feelings toward the well regarded original. Perhaps the nerds don’t win in the end, after all.

--Brian Heater