The Gamers: Dorkness Rising (2008) User Reviews

Absolutely fantastic!

[Sylvan-5 · 8/10 · 8 September 2008]

Better than the original, "the Gamers: Dorkness Rising" manages to pull off a funny comedy with good acting, fine special effects, and comedy that transcends the "gamer" knowledge-base and do so on a low budget. I've seen many low-budget films that have been terrible and almost none that have been as good as their high-budget counterparts. This film blows most mainstream movies away! Parts are a bit weak (the bit with the pirates and ninjas -while funny- goes on a bit long without explanation and takes you out of the movie for a bit) but, overall, this is a very strong film.

I'm very happy to say that I bought this film as soon as I saw it and brought it home.

Any chance we can look forward to another feature Gamers movie from these guys? :)

A Nice gaming movie

[SeptumSin · 8/10 · 7 September 2008]

There are few films that have had me waiting and waiting for release more than this one. This is the latest film from The Dead Gentlemen group responsible for the original Gamers film and the Demon Hunters films. This group has not been terribly active over the last few years but this film is a definite reason to try and keep things up in following their progress.

This film follows a group of gamers who are trying to finish a campaign run by a GM frustrated by his group's disregard for his story. With the help of some new blood they attempt the campaign again with hopes of finishing this time.

This movie is a breath of fresh air in the movie community and a great improvement over the original. The movie shows respect for the game much like the original movie did but on top of that this movie shows a dramatic improvement on special effects launching it above the simplicity of college films. The acting is fairly decent and the jokes are quite funny.

Unfortunately many of the jokes are in jokes so if you are not a gamer you may not find the film as funny as others. So this is why I give the movie an 8 instead of the 9 that I initially thought of. Any case if you are a gamer or know about gaming check this one out you will enjoy it.

Unexpectedly enjoyable

[imdb-21622 · 7/10 · 9 January 2010]

I am so impressed, really. I expected cheesy gamer humor and nothing else.

OK, there's a ton of pretty geeky humor. But the movie is so well done. The acting is quite good.

The dialog, while gamer cheesy at times, I guess to cater to the gamer crowd, is not bad at all. At times it's even, dare I say, great.

When the female gamer, who built this non traditional fighter type character rather then the usual (min/max) type gets all these additional attacks (seem right, I did not check the rules,) it was cool.

The sets are amazing for what must be a fairly low production movie.

The story moves right along. The transitions from game world to real world are well done. A male playing a female character would sometimes be played by a female, and sometimes by himself. Pretty clever, I thought.

The guy who decided to play a female, but kept forgetting he was female was good for a lot of laughs. He even said tag at one point, and the female walked on to play the role ( sorry, I did not look her name up, she did great though.) The guy always trying to "get some", got a bit tedious, but I guess that was more gamer humor.

There was just so much to like about the movie. Lighthearted. Fun! Very well done and I am saying that as a movie fan, not a gamer (and I am not a D&D player.) As I said I expected SO much less.

Movies often don't hold my attention, I end up listening to them while working on my computer. This one held my attention. I can't give a movie much higher praise.

Great movie for non-gamers, too!

[jlgilbs · 9/10 · 31 August 2007]

I am definitely not a gamer, but a couple people in my family and my boyfriend are. So, a little reluctantly I decided to find out what the big deal was with "fantasy stuff". I saw Dorkness Rising and thought it was HILARIOUS! It's slapstick, but not disrespectful to those that enjoy role playing games. Also, and most importantly, people who've never gamed before can enjoy it and not feel left out or lost trying to understand the plot. The acting was great and the field shots/set were believable. This makes me want to see other movies by this production company. I can't wait to see what the future holds for this group! Three cheers - well done!!

Everything that the official movies should have been... and more!

[ThePsychicPotato · 9/10 · 30 August 2008]

Just got back from the European Premiere of The Gamers: Dorkness Rising.

All I can say is that if you are a gamer (CRPG, RPG or LARP), then this movie is for you. And if you're not a gamer? Well, it's still a great deal of fun.

The acting is certainly not Oscar-worthy, but in the whole element of the movie it adds to the charm. The humour is everywhere, along with some very nice touches (the tribute to Gary Gygax is especially well done, if you can spot it). The cast are very down to earth in their appearance, befitting the fact that they are ordinary people enjoying an ordinary hobby.

The quality of the movie's sound and vision are adequate, but again, it all just adds to the atmosphere that helps to define this movie as being the Dungeons and Dragons movie, written and performed by gamers for gamers.

Not afraid to use terminology specific to one system, they still manage to allow product placement to be a part of the movie, but in a very understandable and utterly fair manner. It also touches on some of the perceived prejudices that some gamers can have about other gamers and deals with that quite well.

All in all the movie is very much driven by an well-thought-out equal balance of character, plot and entertainment (the Bard is amazingly good value-for-money).

In the end it does make scoring this movie quite hard, so I have given it 2 scores.

Score (for non-RP'ers): 7/10 (A few moments could go way over your head, but the main sections of the movie just work so hard and achieve so much more.)

Score (for RP'ers): 10/10 (Everything fits together, in the perfect quantities, and with the perfect charm and sentiment)

The Gamers: Dorkness Rising (2008)

[SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain · 7/10 · 26 December 2011]

The makers of The Gamers present this extended sequel. Now running at feature length, the premise is still entertaining but stretched a bit thin. The quality is raised ever so slightly in terms of acting and technical aspects. There are also much funnier lines which is always nice. The film-makers have tried to add some further arcs in terms of the characters and their characters within the film, but these don't always succeed. Some say you have to be a gamer to get this film, but I would disagree. It's just a bunch of guys using their imagination for escapism, and they've managed to craft a film that can help you escape just as well.

"Gamers: DR" is so much fun! I was laughing so hard I cried

[elwood3492 · 9/10 · 23 August 2007]

I had heard about "gaming" and "Dungeons and Dragons" before, but I had know idea it could be like what I saw in the "Gamers: Dorkness Rising." These guys are so funny and fun to watch. Especially the guy who plays the "bard" or "minstrel" or whatever, he has a gift for physical comedy and timing. There is so much background humor and energy in some of the scenes that make you really think that at least some of it was improvised there on set. The special effects needed to be worked on a bit, but I saw it at a convention last year and thats one of the things they said they were going to redo and make better, so it's probably wicked now!

Fun, but doesn't capture the wackiness of the first

[siderite · 7/10 · 13 August 2014]

The first The Gamers film was a 45 minute fun fest, where some young guys in a dorm were role playing and the viewer would simultaneously see them in action. I think the biggest difference from that movie and the sequel is the enthusiasm of the players. In the sequel the players are older, having to deal with real life more, and the feeling has changed.

That doesn't mean that it's bad, only different. I certainly appreciated some depth in the characters of the movie. The game master is organizing these games in order to overcome his writer's block. One of the player is always criticizing him because he is more interested in the story than "the rules" and brings frustration and ego into the mix. Things like that were not an issue in the goofy group of young gamers from the first film.

The most striking change, of course, is the addition of a female player who changes the "attack, kill and ask questions later" dynamics of usual campaigns. The tension of a possible romantic relationship with the game master also add a little depth to the film.

Not all is rosy, though. The girl chooses a character that has few hit points, but which has other attributes, like intelligence in order to negotiate out of conflicts and speed as to get extra hits after criticals, but it only uses the extra hits for comic relief at the beginning and her lack of HPs is not mentioned later in the film. Compare that with the poor bard who dies all the time or with the chaotic neutral wizard female character of a male player that seemed to be there for comic relief and decoration only.

I have to say something about the girl gamer. The idea of inclusion in the game of the female perspective and wisdom was welcome, but its role exacerbated to ridiculous levels in the movie. In order to pull that off some of the other characters lost depth and gained a lot of unnecessary silliness. That kind of defeats the idea if the girl seems to only be capable of wisdom if all her male companions are idiots.

Bottom line: fun film, but at times too slow and inconsistent. I liked how some actors from the old movie appear as secondary characters, some traumatized from older campaigns (lol Mark). Real life issues (where real life is still goofy, like being a writer for role playing campaigns) creeping in the gamer experience is also a thing that makes the film feel more real than the first. However it cannot capture the wackiness from the original The Gamers. I am looking forward to the Hands of Fate sequel. Wait, didn't they defeat The Shadow (The Shadow? The Shadow! The Shadow.) in the first film?

A bold film that nails it

[schro555 · 9/10 · 12 September 2007]

I saw this at the screening at GenCon in Indy. I had some time to kill and decided to check it out. It played to about 1000 people in a packed standing-room-only ballroom.

Wow, what a ride! The script was tight. The action tense. The pacing perfect. The character exposition excellent. One thing I really appreciated was that you knew going in that this wasn't a big budget film. Yet it soon became obvious that the creators pushed their sets and effects as far as they could despite their limitations. And it was more than enough.

It's true that this film was targeted at a certain audience - gamers/tabletop players - the creators make no effort to hide that. But other filmmakers could learn a lot from them. For in going for the jugular in scene after scene and not worrying about if Mom who happens to be watching will "get it", they got the biggest laughs time and time again. But there's enough universality there that Mom will be laughing too, even if she's not in on every joke. I think too many times I see films that try so hard to lower the bar to the lowest common denominator so that they will appeal to the most people, but the movie just ends up suffering for it.

But not this flick. Indeed, this film was so solid that it had the audience wrapped around it's finger from the opening credits. And, while the viewers around me *really* wanted to like the film, they weren't pushovers - gamers can be among the most critical niche out there.

I'm so glad I got to see this in a big crowd. At least 10 times the audience was having such a good time that they erupted into applause at a joke or scene during the film. How often does that happen at screenings? It should be no surprise that there was a huge standing ovation when the closing credits rolled.

For my own part, I can't wait for this to be released. After it ended, one of the producers said they were shooting for a simultaneous TV/DVD release. That date cannot come soon enough.

Awesome!!

[Kaldyne · 29 July 2011]

I have been a gamer for over 20 years and these guys have it all right. I cannot remember enjoying a film so much. All the bickering, arguing and gamer jokes are all represented at my gaming table. Even non gamers, I believe, would have a fun time watching this, and even though the budget is low, it more than makes up with the filmmaker's energy creativity and humor. You even start to get into the gamer's lives outside of the table and start to identify with them on a personal level. I hope to see more of these creative individual's talent in future productions. This actually became one of my favorite movies the first time I watched it. Kudos to you all and keep it up!!

Interesting Premise

[jesusofchicago-54175 · 6/10 · 20 March 2023]

What I liked: The obvious passion to make this movie, and the script feels much more cohesive than the first one. Some of the jokes are surprisingly funny, but a lot is kinda cheesy.

The acting is hit and miss, with the, I guess you'd say, antagonistic player, being by far the one who gives the best delivery. In the 3rd movie, he ended up being the protagonist, and I feel like that's due to his acting ability.

It's clearly made by people who play RPGs, and it's not a jab at gaming by any means. If anything, it's a very accurate of the people who do game, or at least, who were gaming back in 2008 (before it became more pop culture);.

What I disliked: This is going to sound weird to say, especially since it's mostly a comedic movie, but they tried to address a real gaming issue in a serious manner, and that is the 'should a DM keep the player on rails' issue.

Here, they clearly advocate for doing so, by making the players unreasonably hard to manage. Gamers will understand this critique here - the DM has a "DMPC", who is a Paladin, who polices the group, and that's shown in a positive light.

Non-gamers won't even care, but people who have played D&D know why that should never fly. That, and the DMPC is very pivotal in decisions being made by the party, and again, THAT aspect is not about comedy, it's about controlling unruly players.

So if you have someone who wants to DM, and they love this movie, watch out.

Other than that, typical low budget problems, like the soundtrack possibly being public domain music, or generic enough to feel like it.

Verdict: If you played D&D back in the 2000s, or before, you'll absolutely relate to the tabletop scenes. The actual 'in game' stuff feels super cheap, like rough cosplay cheap, but that's to be expected. I think gamers will get a kick out of it, and non-gamers will probably find it super boring, since it's pretty much made for gamers.

A very fun film.

[toxiclego-1 · 10/10 · 10 October 2008]

This film is so wonderful it captures the gaming life. I laughed so hard while watching this. The movie is about a gaming group that have a hard time with a campaign that their dungeon master came up with. The movie switches from the real world and the gaming world as they play the campaign it shows them in the gaming world as their character, and then switches back to the real world when they are not playing. The campaign is the basis for a module that the dungeon master, Lodge, is writing. The problem is Lodge can't finish his module because the characters can't finish the campaign. They are more for killing and looting instead of role playing. Lodge wants them to role play through the campaign something they have never done before. They decide to bring in some extra help so they bring a,wait for it, girl in to play. Lodge also makes a npc, a non player character, a paladin,who can not witness or do wrong, to play. The film is how they do all this and more I don't want to spoil any of the film so I won't say any more. This movie may not be a big budget film the acting may not be Oscar worthy but if you are into gaming or into dungeons and dragons then definitely watch it. They had a lot of fun making this film and it shows I am not going to bash on it for any movie problems such as continuity or any thing it was a low budget film that is just fun. There is some slap stick comedy which I enjoy and some damn good writing in my opinion. So if you want a fun film try it .

Lighthearted & witty geekworld peek

[grasshopper-46827 · 6/10 · 21 June 2019]

Watched this on a bit of a hunch, since though not gamers, we're quite nerdy from Star Trek to Terry Pratchett to TBBT. Presto! Bingo! this film made us all laugh.

I loved the fantasy/real-world cross over - the way attackers held back while the players fought one by one - the repeating jokes (player who wanted to seduce all the women; the guy who kept dying; the guy who kept forgetting his character was female). I liked the sets and the unpredictability of where they would take the characters next. But the best writing was saved for the way they meshed this with the real world characters. They managed to avoid some cliches - the gamers were not all spotty students who had never had a girlfriend and couldn't speak when they saw a woman - but people with ordinary lives. The banter between them was nicely balanced to seem real and competitive without becoming nothing but abuse.

Not many women in the film - but then still sadly true of the gamers world (though more break through all the time). Do get so tired of watching films with a 10 to 1 ratio of male to female characters, but in this case I might put that to one side. I loved that the woman gamer looked like a normal woman and had a character instead of being the love-interest-plug-in. And it did actually pass the bechdel test. SPOILER ALERT No, I'm not referring to conversations betweem the warrior and the male/female sorceress - given that the gamer playing her kept forgetting his character was female I don't think that counts - but Therin, the Goddess of light has a maybe 3 line conversation with the warrior Joanna. At least ... it past in the game world (not in the real world, alas). END OF SPOILERS

Overall this was a better written and much funnier than I expected. Great light-hearted geeky film.

A Bit of a Let Down

[icocleric · 3/10 · 13 March 2023]

Honestly so many of my friends found this funny, and some jokes did land with me. But overall I thought most of the gamers would actually be a nightmare to game with. Which really took away a lot of enjoyment for me.

I found a lot of acting to be really stiff too. Like I have seen better acting from podcasts of people just doing their thing. Conceptually it could have been a cool film, I liked the switch between the tabletop and the fantasy world, and the in game story was cool. I just think the players, and Dungeon Master should have been more social players.

But overall I think this film was a bit of a disappointment to me. A lot of my friends really hyped this film up, but it wasn't for me.

Beautiful

[OhioGamerGirl · 9/10 · 23 August 2007]

I'm new to gaming, but I would have started MUCH sooner if this film had been around! I caught it at Gen Con last year (a trip made only as a favor to my husband) and LOVED it! Even to a non-gamer like I was at the time, it's funny and accessible--so much so that I finally relented and started sitting in on my husband's gaming group.

I don't want to give away any plot details, but if you're a gamer, you NEED to see this film--and if you're not, you're going to have a great time despite yourself. There are certainly "in" jokes, but the vast majority of the film is accessible to anyone.

My only complaints: wish it were longer and wish it were available on DVD. Soon, perhaps?...

I saw it for the first Time at Comicon in San Diego!

[Umbru · 10/10 · 17 September 2008]

I was laughing so hard most of the time I had people glaring at me because they couldn't hear over my laughter. I literally fell out of my seat at a specific point.

I'm a Bartender and Bouncer for a living in the Real world (note my use of the term Real world, sadly it always has to come first), and whenever I tell someone I play RPG's, it's usually followed by one of two questions: 1. What, like D&D? I played that back in Junior High.

2. Really? I've been looking or a group forever! Have room for another? Very rarely do people not know what D&D and Gaming are.

That having been said almost every person who watches this movie can get something out of it. Even if you aren't a Gamer, chances are there is something in your life you "Geek Out" about that can be made fun of in a light hearted way, and that alone means you can relate to the hijinx in this flick. It's just light hearted happiness in an hour and a half.

Enjoyable!

[Melourn · 7/10 · 17 June 2019]

I had my doubts about this one, but as it turned out, the production values were almost there! On the one hand, the special effects needed some extra oomph, but they weren't half bad. The writing was pretty good too! I really like the concept of a new player coming in and having done their homework to a point that regulars are thrown for a loop! The acting, itself, leaves a bit to be desired, but again- it was also pretty decent overall. I tremendoisly loved the humorous anecdotes, analogies, game-enthusiast jabs and jokes, and the relentless ability of the entire gaming group to conspire against the DM and his carefull laid plans (lol).

Actual problems I saw: 1.) The odd off-relationship between the DM and the new gamer girl. I don't see why that couldn't have been developed a bit more to add some actual drama and feeling to the real-world gamers. 2.) I feel like some of the dramatic "antics" were a bit over the top and could have been less -dramatized- and more -acted with real feelings- in order to make the gamers seem more like real people. 3.) The whole thing with making all the gamers eccentric was too stereotypical. {My opinion here: In reality, there's usually only enough psychological room for 1 eccentric in a group of gamers...2 eccentrics in a group causes too much friction and the group tends to fall apart because their egos can't handle the (we'll call it) "stupid".}

Pre-screened at GenCon Indy

[dwilker · 9/10 · 16 August 2006]

Dead Gentlemen Productions has put together a film with amazing production values considering their budget. Anyone that has ever played any role-playing game, particularly any fantasy RPG (they play Dungeons and Dragons in the movie) will LOVE this movie. Brilliant performances all around--especially with regards to the dual nature of the principles, playing their players and their characters. Anyone who has ever filmed or acted in a student film will appreciate the amount of work and love they put into this project. This movie (and its prequel) is to fantasy movies and role-playing games what Blazing Saddles is to westerns--parody of the highest order. I only have a couple minor complaints about the movie itself, none of which will prevent me from buying the DVD as soon as it's available (only 6 more weeks--I'm counting the days):

1. When Lodge is talking to Joanna about joining the gaming group, he hands her a copy of the Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook and says "this will tell you everything you need to know." The camera hovers too long on a shot of the book, and the moment really seemed like a commercial.

2. The jokes are hilarious, but they seem unevenly spread throughout the movie. The last third of the movie, after the almost continuous barrage of visual and verbal humor preceding it, slows down a bit, as if the narrative was catching up with the jokes. Odd, but Blazing Saddles always struck me that way as well. . . and I love that movie, too.

One of the narrative strengths of the story is the unresolved nature of the romantic subplot. Will Joanna become the GM's girlfriend? Will she go back to Cass? Or will the three maintain a platonic friendship, deepened by the camaraderie of role-playing? (Yes that sounds sappy, but there are a couple of saccharine moments, particularly when Cass and Lodge "make up" at the end.) But the movie spans one week: in terms of human relationships, those questions could not be answered in a week. The fact that the characters' relationships are left undefined strikes me as better than the more classical choices you see in most movies, like the girl gets her prince and they move into the castle, or the prince sinks into the North Atlantic after three trite, tedious, and predictable hours. The writers really seem to have a grasp of the psychology of the characters, and you can see the characters (both the gamers and the player's characters) change over the course of the movie, but not suddenly, and not unbelievably.

I would love to hear more wisdom from Brother Silence. "The man who stands out in darkness is. . . fluorescent."

Fun film

[Protilius · 10/10 · 3 February 2009]

Best fan boy movie I've ever watched save "Free Enterprise."

In some ways it reminded me of an early Kevin Smith film.

If you do any kind of role playing, this movie will likely have you laughing often at its insatiable fun. Don't expect a big budget here, the acting is also questionable at times, but it really adds to the fun of the atmosphere they create. The script is truly humorous with a lot of witty moments worth experiencing.

The bard that always gets killed had me rolling. The sexually confused player also had me smiling a bit too. But in the end... It was just a great movie showcasing some better moments in the lives of a few geeks having a great time with role playing.

If you are bored, and ever got into role playing, this will do nicely for a distraction. A real unexpected treat.

Brilliant

[gorbash_yu · 10/10 · 14 May 2009]

This movie brilliantly captures the atmosphere of a D&D group. While watching, I could not help but notice how vividly characters reminded me of myself and my gaming friends to the point where they acted literally the same as we do. Including the bickering, the fighting, the internal jokes, driving the DM crazy. EVERYTHING.

It has it all. Jokes that made me cry, action scenes which, even filmed in low-budget, I found uncannily awesome. The story is pretty straightforward and unsurprising, but that doesn't really matter, since the best part of the movie is to see the characters react and interact with each other and the NPCs.

Seriously, if you're playing D&D or any similar RPG, I cannot stress this enough, WATCH THIS MOVIE, it captured beautifully the spirit of D&D.

Do gamers really like these movies?

[jfgibson73 · 5/10 · 28 December 2010]

This was a fun watch. It follows a group involved with a role-playing adventure as they try to finish the game over several sessions. The girl is new to the group, and attempts to bring a fresh perspective, while the other three men playing have tried to finish this same "campaign" twice before. Like the first Gamers movie, we see the players sitting around the table in real time, but cut back and forth to the same actors enacting the game in costume, as it might play out in one's imagination. Much of the humor of the movie comes from the disconnect between a character's spoken choice and how the action is portrayed in the costumed world. I thought it was ironic that the scenes that most transported me were not the Medieval portions, but the ones where we see the players in their dorm basement or wherever, playing until 3 a.m. It made me a little nostalgic for those times when I had nothing to do but hang out all night. I did wonder if any gamers were insulted by how their culture was portrayed, even though this movie was almost certainly made by people who play the table top adventures themselves. I also liked how they took a break midway through the movie, and we got to see some of the characters outside of the game setting. Some of the humor was a little goofy, and I thought the storyline of the adventure was a bit simplistic (although not being a gamer, I don't know if it was better or worse than a typical campaign). I guess the bottom line is that if they made more of these Gamers movies, I would watch.

"Dorkness" is loaded with Adrenaline Pumping Action!!

[ChipDeedlenick · 9/10 · 23 August 2007]

This groundbreaking film is truly a work of art. I went into the screening at the convention in Indiana with very low expectations, having already viewed 2 other film with "gamer" in the title (both of which were so bad that by the end of the second one I had plucked out one of my own eyes with my drinking straw and a twisted paper clip I found between the seat cushions). But from the opening credits "Dorkness" had me. The temperate Northwest setting made a beautiful backdrop for the drama surrounding the frustrated game master, Lodge(powerfully portrayed by Nathan Rice) and his misfit band of friends who set aside the real-life dramas they face everyday to face fantastical dramas in the setting Lodge provides for them. After the first scene(set in the fantasy world they inhabit) They are violently thrust back into the world they so desperately try to escape. This drew so many comparisons to my own life that I was moved to tears. Rice's acting is of such amazing caliber that I truly believed within the first 20 minutes of the film that he really was a twenty-something male suffering from frustration, male pattern baldness and an annoying group of "friends" that can't seem to grasp concepts like right and wrong. Lodge's friends are of some note here: Leo, the oldest and heaviest of the trio seems to be the only other character with a job, aside from lodge. Yet he seems to gravitate socially towards Gary, the youngest of the group. This seems only slightly odd at first until you realize that Gary is, in fact, a sexually confused sociopath with very few prospects outside his "fantasy" world. This dichotomy serves, not to confuse, but to inform and uplift the audience about the importance of diversity in our society. My only complaint about this is that the actors who portray Leo (Scott C. Brown) and Gary (christian Doyle) seem to play the characters for laughs at times, as though they were informed they were acting in a comedy instead of a hard-hitting action/drama. Speaking of action, Brian Lewis makes his film debut as Cass, the third and most influential member of Lodge's motley crew. the tension is always high when he is on screen, both when he is arguing passionately about his beliefs to Lodge or when displaying his fantastic Martial Arts skills as "Silence" his fantasy character. Or even when he turns around suddenly to face the audience and you reflexively duck in the audience so as not to get smacked by his fantastic chin. Lewis Lights up the screen no matter what he's doing and I hope to see more of him in the future. Once the action begins in this movie, it just doesn't quit. the drama and the action blend so seamlessly at times that you can's tell whether your in the middle of a frenetic action sequence or a touching dramatic moment. Truly a thrill ride of Epic proportions, I would recommend "The Gamers: Dorkness Rising" as required viewing for anyone who loves film. It was almost worth losing an eye over.

~Chip Deedlenick

Absolutely fun for gamer and non-gamer

[issachar · 10/10 · 10 February 2009]

Gamers: DR is not a fancy made movie, it's more like amateur video. Horrible magic effect, really fake fireball, terribly made dungeon, castle, village...... sword, axe, shield, robe, plate..... okok... everything. You will need about 10 minutes to adjust your expecting on visual, then you will get 105 minutes of fun.

I'm from Hongkong and it's really hard to find RPers, none of my friends play RPG and I always fancy to be one of the character in the world of D&D. Watching Gamers: DR just show me what would it be like to be a gamer. You see rule books, dices, game set, etc etc etc; You hear terms like "fighter", "wizard", "hit point", "level", "character", "flaming hand", "Chaotic Evil".

What RPG fancy me is that it let you do anything u want to, not bonded by software RPG. Gamers: DR provide the same element, you wont know what happen next and it probably just make you laugh to dead. The movie goes both gamers's real life as well as in the D&D world. You will hear the gamer cast the dice when the character in game take action, which make you feel you really participle in the game.

I don't want to spoil anything, but in short, Gamers: DR is a must watch movie for RPG lovers. For people never play RPG game, I'm sure you still get many fun from it.

Juxtaposing Real Life with the Fantastic

[jrcarney52 · 10/10 · 17 January 2012]

What's it about? Well, it's a little complicated to explain if you haven't played tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons and Dragons. And yet—it's quite easy to explain if you do play roleplaying games. If my description of the plot comes off to you non-RPGers as alienating, don't be turned away! The humor and cleverness of this film is not so "sub- cultural" that you won't find yourself laughing and perhaps touched.

Anyhow. Back to the question at hand. What's it about? It concerns a group of friends who play Dungeons and Dragons together. If you play Dungeons and Dragons, then you know that D&D is a kind of "collaborative storytelling ritual." Thus, the film also relates the story of this group of friends's Dungeons and Dragons "campaign," that is, the story they tell and act out together.

And so you have two narratives here: (1) the story of their real lives, sitting around the game table, laughing, drinking soda, arguing, etc., and (2) the story of their D&D campaign, set in a fantasy world plagued by the evil necromancer Mort Kemnon. So, you have two narratives juxtaposed over top of each other here: a realistic one and a fantasy one. This narrative juxtaposition is the source of much of the pleasure of the film—its humor, its insights into human character, etc.. Let me try to explain.

An example. There's one character, Gary, who has decided to play a sorcerer in the D&D game. And so he plays another character, a sorcerer. And yet, he can't decide on which gender to make his character. And as he's playing, he sometimes forgets his character is a girl. And so, you have a character in the fantasy world, a sorcerer/sorceress, by the name of Luster, played by two actors: Christian Doyle and Jennifer Page. One scene you have a scantily-clad, sexy sorceress; and the next scene you have a dude in excessively feminine sorceress's clothing. What is the result of these complicated narrative swirlings that I'm having difficulty articulating here? Hilarity.

Aside front he plot, you have some very good comedic acting in here. The character of Flynn Fine, the womanizing bard (played by Scott C. Brown), is hilarious. There's a scene where he attempts to use his bard-singing abilities to calm the rage of a marauding band of goblins, and is pin- cushioned with spears. This moved me to tears (tears of laughter, that is). When I watch the film, this scene is a "rewinder-and-play-againer".

The stories of other characters--the game master, Kevin Lodge (Nathan Rice), and the "rules lawyer," Cass (Brian Lewis)—are, in addition to being both hilarious and fun, touching stories. Kevin is struggling with writer's block; Cass is struggling with his need to "win," to be the best, the greatest, the one. There's another character, the fighter Daphne (Carol Roscoe), who is perfect at being the opposite of the stereotypical mighty-thewed warrior: intelligent, sweet, noble, and-- nevertheless--deadly. In a fun way her character shines a lot of light on gender stereotypes.

For being an independent film company, the production value is also quite impressive. Costuming, computer effects, choreography, props, scenery: all of these suggest that this film is indeed an "independent," low-budget production—and yet, the production elements seem to suggest a characteristic style, a unique flavor that is endearing and impressive rather than cheesy.

Anyhow, I love this movie! In juxtaposing "real life" with "fantasy life," it reveals important inter-connections between the two; and it does this difficult work with humor and authenticity in a way only an independent production could.

Future Cult Classic -This Film is an absolute hit.

[ccsroscoe-1 · 10/10 · 21 June 2008]

I saw the original rough screen showing 4 times at Gencon a couple years ago. I was delighted to have done so, my daughter is in the movie.

I stood in the back of the room with her watching the much younger fans sit on the edge of there seats, dead quiet no wanting to miss a line. The standing ovation afterward's was like watching the fans when the USA Hockey Team beat the Russians at the Olympic Games in Montreal.

I love excellent comedy and sight gags. Taxi, Barney Miller, Cheers, Frasier and Married with Chilren are my all time favorite comedy shows. Lesser shows I will not even watch.

This movie will do for Gamers what Animal House did for College Frat days, what Dodge Ball did for weird sports. Forget the lack of a mega budget backing the production. This is pure art, it's that good.

I could not be happier for the entire cast and production company.