Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie (2014) User Reviews

A Missed Opportunity

[smerph · 4/10 · 5 September 2014]

Firstly, let me declare an interest: I've been following Rolfe and The Angry Video Game Nerd since about 2007. I've bought his DVDs (mainly to contribute to his finances - since 90% of the content is available free online) and I regularly visit his website, Cinemassacre. His short videos are always a joy. They're informative and humorous, poking fun at the weird curiosities of video-games, board games, movies, TV shows and books.

However, when I heard about an AVGN movie, I was a little puzzled. How could that ever work?

The main problem is that The Nerd isn't really a true "character" as such, he's merely an exaggeration of James Rolfe's personality. Sure, the white shirt is a costume and the love of Rolling Rock is a vague attempt at character detail, but his main characteristic; the anger for awful games - well, that normally comes from embellished truth. This is why the most successful AVGN videos focus on the games that Rolfe has a true history with. Exposing the absurdities of 2003's "Big Rigs Over the Road Racing" (the subject matter of a recent episode) is a lot of fun, but it pales in comparison to The Nerd spitting bile at "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde"; a game which Rolfe hated as a child of the eighties and detests even more, decades later.

Nevertheless, The Nerd had built up a loyal army of fan and Rolfe had a guaranteed audience for a movie; irrespective of whether the format truly lent itself to one.

So, with format tinkering needed, where to go for the movie? The obvious answer would have been a small-scale character-based comedy. Explore and expand The Nerd; turn him into an actual character and, as a result,illustrate why he's deserving of a self-titled movie.

Unfortunately (and I take no pleasure in that term), Rolfe has always had desires to dream a little "bigger". Numerous episodes of AVGN and Board James have taken pretty radical deviations after the "reviews" have concluded. Viewers have been treated to bizarre story-lines with budget-stretching special effects, miniatures and fight-sequences. These have, for the most part, been fun - even if they weren't really the reason why Rolfe had been embraced so enthusiastically by the web community.

It are these episodes from which AVGN - THE MOVIE, takes its cues. Rolfe and co-director/co-writer Kevin Finn have delivered an unashamedly hokey B-Movie with an outlandish, wacky plot. There's no deep delving into the Nerd's character and the only "development" he goes through is overcoming a reluctance to do something incredibly minor. And if you're expecting more depth to Rolfe's performance, then you will be disappointed. I lost track of the number of times his reaction to something was simply a lip-pursing frown and a shake of the head.

There's also not a huge amount of comedy here. There are comic set-pieces, sure - but the intention seems to be that you will laugh at the sheer nonsense of scenes, rather than specifically funny dialogue. The closest I got to laughing was a bemused smile towards a couple of moments. And that's the biggest shame; I'd overlook the fact that this is a misguided format for AVGN : The Movie...if the resulting product had generated some decent laughs.

The plot is that a Games Company have developed a sequel to the infamous ET (or "Eee Tee" as it is here) and want the Nerd to review it, thus publicising it for them. This would have been the perfect springboard for a "Wayne's World" type story, with our protagonist being exploited by a large corporation. Alas, Finn and Rolfe seem to lose interest in this plot line...which is why we end up with a finale consisting of a chatty alien, a shiny spaceship and a giant existence-threatening monster.

Rolfe is accompanied by a surprisingly large cast. Most of the performers do what they can with the material but there isn't really much depth to the proceedings, so much of them are essentially cardboard cutouts. "Nerdy Sidekick", "Zany alien", "War-hungry General". I get that this is kind of The Point - but there needs to be more to "spoof" than purely pointing out that you know your way around clichés and conventions.

It's a little ironic that, by attempting to make the scale of this movie bigger, they end up showing the production up as far more amateurish. It seems that Finn and Rolfe dreamed a little too big in the scripting stage and, rather than reign things in with knowledge of budgeting, they simply kept things exactly as they were as they entered production. The result of this is that we get a huge amount of green-screen, miniatures and rubber suits. Yes, there's a charm to it (and Rolfe, as a big fan of Godzilla is obviously paying tributes), but it does make this seem more like the web sketch it came from, than the "Movie" it yearns to be.

I should stress that I didn't dislike AVGN : The Movie. It's far too long (shave off 40 minutes and it would be far tighter) and I was a little distracted during the sagging second third, but it's always watchable. It's certainly more entertaining than the output of The Asylum, with which it shares a similar "look".

And yet, I feel this is a missed opportunity. It's disappointing that Rolfe and Finn were so focused on pastiching monster movies and capers, rather than creating a movie as original as the web series that inspired it.

I leave you with the fact that Kevin Smith made his debut movie Clerks for less than $30,000. James Rolfe and Kevin Finn had 10 times that amount and made Angry Video Game Nerd : The Movie.

Underwhelming

[darkblood55 · 5/10 · 31 July 2014]

If you liked the trailers you will probably like the movie, but if you had doubts about the new characters and the writing right off the bat, you will probably think like me.

I'm a fan of the AVGN from the beginning and will always be a fan.

But that movie is not well-written. Not well at all. Some people that were at the Fantasia film festival reported that all jokes were met with roaring laughter, but I was at the same screening and did not experience that. The laughs were scarce and only a few jokes are really clever and well written in the dialogue. So most of the movie was silence and polite laughs once in a while. About 10 "real" laughs.

The writing is REALLY sub-par and underwhelming. Might that be the contribution of Kevin Finn, compared to James Rolfe writing alone his episodes of AVGN? I don't know and don't want to dump the blame too easily on one person.

It seemed like the wits, the cleverness of James scripts (usual AVGN episodes) were gone and all that stayed was a naive, unsubtle script and dialogues. Most of it is contrived, a little stupid and clichéd.

The effects are good and fun, there is some really cool model work there, and I found that the effect shots and the editing were really well done. I know a lot of things were done in post-production, but it doesn't show, the movie holds very well together.

If only the writing was there to support the rest of the movie and make it funny... That should have been the bone that holds all that meat together, but it fails.

The sidekick of James is naive, annoying and stupid. Not really the actor's fault because his lines are so bad... They should have went, after all, for Mike Matei. I know he's camera shy and everything, but I felt people wanted to see people they knew and would pardon a couple of acting mishaps if need be. We needed a cynical, witty sidekick, not a naive idiot making bad jokes over bad jokes. Sometimes the same bad joke like 5 times during the entire runtime (like his mother calling him over and over).

The nerd girl character arc is mostly boring and unnecessary. They could have cut 5 or 10 minutes from the movie for her alone. All her interactions with the bad guys are cringe worthy. Here again, I feel the actress is good but that the material is seriously lacking.

It's like they thought it was funny on paper with the quick repartees and physical humour, but it doesn't connect so the "uncleverness" of the dialogue and script REALLY shows.

It is unfortunate like I said because the movie by itself could be very fun! They could have cut at least 30 minutes of bad dialogue EASY if you ask me. The whole thing felt slow and didn't pick up quick enough. Should definitely have been more fast-paced and less relying on the sidekick and nerd girl. We were there to see James after all. Having a well-written better sidekick could have worked in though! :) I am still very proud of the final product as far as EVERYTHING else besides the dialogue, because it looks GREAT and feels GREAT.

It is only my opinion and I don't intend to offend, I still love James and his work. I will still support the guy in his future endeavours and WILL buy the movie to help him finance whatever else he might want to do.

I want to like it, but I can't. I got bored on half the movie.

[azlacary-97-375402 · 5/10 · 3 September 2014]

I know it is not a big production movie and I really enjoy that it knows it is a low budget film and makes fun of it, but it is just boring. It is slow, most of the jokes are not that funny, nor corny enough to make them memorable. Having a "Jar Jar Binks" didn't work for Lucas, and also didn't help The Nerd to have Cooper Folly. I think he could have done something different that would be more entertaining for that character.

Again, the effects are cheesy, but that is fine with me. I really like the location shots and I think they did a lot with their budget and the effects really matched the tone of the movie. The main problem is that it is too freaking slow. Probably I am being harsh because I watched Wayne's World a few weeks ago and I was expecting something more on that style, or probably their jokes were not over the top enough to be funny.

Honestly, I hope the nerd comes back to direct a movie and I really hope that this movies opens a lot of doors for him, but hopefully next time someone else will write it. Also, I don't see a bright future for the other actors.

I really wanted to like this

[spmact · 6/10 · 16 November 2014]

I've been a fan of the AVGN for years, and love his web episodes. I think some of the comedy in them was genius. I also love his short videos where he talks about other stuff from the 80s (TMNT show/films, Rocky, Ghostbusters etc). Consequently, I was so happy that he got to live his dream of making a feature length indie film, through many months of hard work. I was going to see this in the theatre but it was sold out in my city. I was even ready to buy the Blu-Ray to support him, but couldn't wait for it to come out so I watched this in advance of the disc release.

After watching the film, I have to say I was pretty disappointed. Most of the comedy was bad, and the story seemed convoluted. Too many ideas were crammed in and much of it didn't work. There were weird story elements that didn't make sense, the characters were too one dimensional and not likable, and many of the pay-offs were unearned. I could go on but I feel bad bashing James because I like his other work so much.

In the end I respect James for what he did. I just wish I could have liked this film more than I did.

Ends up being bad

[K3nzit · 1/10 · 4 January 2020]

This movie is not even near as funny as a standard AVGN episode on You Tube. But the question is, if it even tries to be. It seems to me that it is trying to be so bad, it's good on purpose - and just ends up being bad.

A little sloppy, but good fun.

[endoftruthmusic · 7/10 · 14 August 2014]

I would describe my expectations for the AVGN movie as cautiously optimistic and I think my expectations were met.

Don't expect a full on comedy, it's more of a comedy adventure film. The movie has plenty of scenes that aren't meant to be comedic, they're meant to further the story, characters or add dramatic tension. With all these points that make up the movie including the comedy, script, character interaction, cinematography etc., I'd say they all the elements hit their mark *most* of the time.. but their are certainly times they don't.

On the script: The story/plot it's self was a lot of fun. It was enjoyable to see what was going to happen next. Blending the E.T. burial story with a lot of crazy non-sense and then tying it all up. The dialogue never felt like it was overtly unnatural, (with the exception of the Nerd... but that's part of his character to talk like that so I make an exception). It wasn't spectacular dialogue, but it was never bad to a point that it took me out of the movie.

The characters served there purposes for the most part... but I never felt like I was ever truly cared about the friendships. There just wasn't a lot of chemistry among the lead characters.

The effects we're a lot of fun (most of the time). I was very excited about the practical effects and they certainly got a lot of laughs at the theater I went to. I do have a few gripes though about the special effects. There are a few CGI touch-ups that just didn't work for me. The Nerd jumping away from Gun Fire and we see CGI dirt shoot up? You couldn't of had a practical effect for that? As far as practical effects go, most made me laugh. But to try to be vague on spoilers, there's a character in this movie relied very heavily on practical effects... and the character looks terrible. This didn't work for me because it was supposed to be an actual character that the leads interacted with... but I just couldn't by the character because of how fake it looked. Don't get me wrong, it made me laugh when I first saw him, but after that it was a distraction.

I'm glad I saw it though. I took my wife to the movie and it's not like she doesn't like the avgn videos... they're just not her thing... but she even said she found the movie entertaining. I think if this movie can please a person who is not very familiar with the AVGN series, then James Rolfe did something right.

I look at this movie two ways: 1. A mildly entertaining comedy adventure film. 2. Fantastic Accomplishment for James and everyone involved(including the budget provided by fans).

Such a disappointment.

[Kdosda_Hegen · 2/10 · 8 November 2020]

I love AVGN videos, but this film is just wrong. Firstly, for the most part the plot is to find the legendary bad video game, would be fair enough, but it's very dragged, it features very few jokes, not much interesting stuff happens. The only great thing is the ending because Nerd reviews a game. I understand there was tons of love put here, but for the most part it feels nothing like AVGN videos. It features tons of actors/characters who were never in any AVGN video before. Smosh The Movie did a much better job, since it felt like a very long video of smosh, the cast was mostly same, the storyline was just like from smosh video, but this feels like a completely different thing from AVGN videos.

Some guy on YouTube LOVES his fans and makes a movie about it ! :D

[willplaygame · 9/10 · 8 August 2014]

I saw the movie at Fantasia Film Fest in Montreal Canada with a bunch of fans and, that's the best way to see this movie. James loves his fans and he shows it.

I was waiting for this movie for about 2-3 years and, it was TOTALLY worth the time waiting!

The film is a big "Thank you!" letter to all AVGN fans. References, intended "amateur" visual FX, kick-ass soundtrack, surprises cameos, that's all we wanted and got with Angry Video Game Nerd : The Movie.

So, if you can, watch the movie at some theatre when it tours and if you can't, get a bunch of friends that are fans of the nerd, buy some Rolling Rock and ENJOY !

Nerd Fans Should be Happy

[thisisbs911 · 7/10 · 22 July 2014]

I had the privilege of seeing this film at the Hollywood Premiere, and as a die hard nerd fan, myself, it was a dream come true. I had a chance to go up and down the line and talk to people about their favorite AVGN episodes or what brought them to the premiere. As I was enjoying the wave of Nerd fandom I worried deep down, what if the movie sucked the rotten asshole of a roadkill skunk that I couldn't down with beer?

Luckily, that's not the case. The movie remains entertaining throughout. The special effects using the miniature buildings and cars were particularly well done and lots of fun. My main complaint is that the plot splinters off in multiple directions and loses focus. However, it does lead to moments of great Nerd humor.

For AVGN fans, it's a must see. Lots of laugh out loud moments with some visual easter eggs to the show. For those who aren't already fans, I'd recommend watching some of the AVGN episodes first. If you like those then I think you would get a kick out of this movie.

It sucked

[jukkasc2 · 3/10 · 3 September 2014]

The only thing worse than the actual movie itself is the fans praising it. Having been a fan of the AVGN and James Rolfe's films/reviews since 2006, I've pretty much grown up with the nerd. I started watching when I was around 13 and now I am 22. That being said the movie simply was a let down. For all the build up, all the hype, and the anticipation of the nerd reviewing what could be debated as the worst game ever created in "E.T.", it simply was not a good film. There were some enjoyable moments, like Nathan Barnatt's cameo, or Doug Walker's cameo, but aside from that there really isn't much too talk about. The jokes were the same things you'd see in your average episode of the webseries, the script was decent, but in the end juggled too many ideas and ended up being very convoluted. For what it's worth, with a budget of 300k there are worse movies out there, and if you're a fan you will find some enjoyment out of it. Personally his films like "The Deader the Better" or "The legend of the blue hole" were much more enjoyable than this. Maybe it's a growing up thing, maybe I've grown past the humor, or maybe it just feels dated, I'm not sure. The film left a very sour taste in my mouth, and I would have much rather seen multiple AVGN episodes as opposed to this mediocre film. Seriously though why do the fans have to ride his dick so hard? If you keep telling someone something is amazing when it's not, they'll continue to put out the same mediocre crap. It's out of criticism that they decide to work harder and put more effort into creating something great. To the fans that give this film 10/10, you need to learn to form your own opinions and not be another sheep in the heard. Don't ride his dick, look at this film honestly. Especially when he can be so critical of other peoples work, but doesn't have very many critics of his own.

He's Gonna Take You Back To The Past!

[blesyk-563-738100 · 9/10 · 6 August 2014]

I had the privilege of seeing The Angry Video Game Nerd Movie at the Colonial Theatre premier in Phoenixville, PA (yes, the theater from The Blob). As a long-time admirer of James Rolfe's work as the AVGN, I had high hopes—I was not disappointed at all. This movie exceeded my expectations in every regard. This movie is wonderfully casted, well- written, and had a ton of laughs! Some of the jokes were very inside and only TRUE fans of The Nerd's work would appreciate…which was awesome! But, even first-time viewers can expect to enjoy the movie as it just strives to pack as much fun as possible into each moment. I literally can't say a bad word about this movie. Even the movie's "flaws" are intentional and, in fact, garner some of the biggest laughs. So far as video game movies go (The Wizard, The Lawnmower Man, Tron, etc.), this one is an instant classic and deserves to be seen by all the joystick jockeys out there!

Review from a longtime fan - Underwhelmed

[pureorangeness · 6/10 · 4 September 2014]

I just saw Angry Video Game Movie and as a long time fan, I have to say that it was underwhelming. It had its moments, however its flaws really drag it down. The movie is basically the offspring of two people with completely different ideas trying to piece up a script together.

Spoilers:

I understand it's hard to come up with a script for a movie rendition of AVGN. It's just about a guy yelling at his TV with occasional guest appearances of fictitious characters (relevant to whatever game he's playing); but this lack of intricacy in original material, to my belief, should also mean that it's open for interpretation and building on what's already established. Well, all characters are new, all environments are new, and some stuff feel a little too unfamiliar. I don't get the character traits given to Nerd. He's very sympathetic with people, understanding, open to argue with, and such. He's "the protagonist", basically a blank slate for the audience to relate to. This is problematic for three reasons:

1. AVGN has gained popularity over the years by the sheer factor of his personality aspects. His reactions to things going on should have been one of the major selling points. People like the Nerd because he overreacts. It doesn't mean he should be closed for any character development, but he doesn't even get any; throughout the movie he acts as an innocent puppy thrown in a circus, trying to understand the plot.

2. This COMPLETELY throws away what the web series has established about his personality! In many episodes, he is shown to be dismissive and mean to people upfront; which makes other characters cut their act and turn out to be equally mean. Here, Nerd is less angry and more of a self-insert of James Rolfe's own mannerisms.

3. This characteristic doesn't makes sense WITHIN the movie, because Nerd is also a bit childish. He's only arrogant and angry when confronted with EeeTee, or if he's presented the idea of girl gamers. For the first half of the movie he's conflicted that Mandi is both a girl and a gamer and he expresses discomfort for being around her, which is a form of anonymity that wasn't established in the web series before. He's the straight man except these traits, which makes them even more confusing.

The two supporting characters are gleaming reasons to why this movie couldn't become something groundbreaking. Cooper and Mandi, created solely for this movie, are supposedly included to satirize old 80s and 90s movies of the same adventure vein, and both characters were made to be simple tokens much like those movies; guy sidekick being weak and coward -and he does bring in heavily clichéd, bad black guy jokes here and there- and the girl being the GIRL; having sexual tension with both male characters, and also acting both as the Daphne and Velma of the group; in glee and smarts department. This entire joke falls flat by virtue of there being no punchline other than one or two "look we are self-aware" moments. The movie didn't attempt to break the mold, and became the same thing it tried to satirize. The character of Mandi, despite all that, was acted well and had a good synergy with Nerd. Cooper however was an annoying, whiny, unfunny lackey who had no reason to be there other than to spout exposition and make Nerd seem more like the straight man.

The other characters, however, were shockingly amazing! Time Winters had a great role in which he gave his all. The cameo appearances were well made, and it was usually anyone but the main trio who brought in the real laughs or interesting bits in this movie. Even the EeeTee alien was a really nice touch despite his cheesy lines.

The script is decent. The main plot was actually great. Many do complain about the movie turning into a different one halfway; however the choppy and exaggerated elevation of events makes the Nerd humor shine. It feels like they tried their best to have their petty video game-related problem to elevate into a giant robot threatening the entire universe… and that's fantastic! It's supposed to be escapist fantasy, in terms of doing stuff that big blockbuster movies would never attempt to do because of the sheer silliness. What script fails to deliver however, is to find things for the sidekicks to do once they are separated from Nerd. Mandi gets captured early up and spends 12 hours in movie's time being tied up by a lesser villain, and this situation does not alter even after plot resolves enough that there is no longer a reason for her to be there! And Cooper just mops around and drives around in the van whining. By the end of the movie the three reunites, only for them to be completely useless. Then Cooper awkwardly kisses Mandi despite there being no hint of them being interested in each other and Mandi just goes with it. Mandi is a company representative and Cooper is a Youtuber that lives with an overprotective mom, and the movie did nothing to make this thing any means of believable.

The movie packs two plot twists, one being really predictable because of bad foreshadowing (alien foil being used for game cartridges), and other being really coming out of nowhere. The latter I actually very enjoyed. The actual E.T review is in the credits sequence and it was also low key, sadly. The references to web series were made to be understandable in a subtle manner, for those who hasn't seen the episodes before, and that is a plus.

Give it a watch if you're a longtime AVGN fan, yet still proceed with caution, and maybe go for the Vimeo renting option instead of download -because I personally don't see this as worthy of watching a second time.

This movie should be shown in all film schools

[pongHD · 1/10 · 8 May 2015]

Yeah, they should do it. Because it's the perfect example of how you can ruin a movie.

I have tried to enjoy it. My first experience was horrible. It was a total disaster and I felt bad for all those who have worked in it because they wasted their time. But the second time... oh, man, it was worse. It has been five months since that boring 2 hour day where I was tempted many times to shut down the computer. Now, after seeing that atrocity again, I can assure you it is the best option.

The movie was a great idea. If you tell the plot to your friends, they will be interested. Raiding for the lost "ET" cartridges? Evil scientists? Hot girls? Wow, this should be amazing! But no, It isn't. It's the worst movie I have ever seen. I have seen many. The Nerd isn't angry, he is just dull. Cooper, his partner, just disappears from mid movie until the very end. The nerdy-girl has a horribly choreographed fight, worst than Pamela Anderson's VIP series. The monster is completely absurd and pointless.

The jokes are not funny, the non-professional actors are lame and the "special effects" are annoying. The film is long and it suffers from it. Many scenes in the second half are unnecessary.

Why is this a total disaster? The acting is bad, yeah, but the directing is worse. They seem to have chosen just the first cut of each scene. Just because a scene had "special effects" is included, regardless of his uselessness. The plot was boring, and that is something that they should have understood before the filming, with lack of humor. And there are many phrases that send yo back to the episodes... but they don't work. Just an example: James raged in the TMNT 3 episode about the horrible fall of the evil character. Well, here he does the same. It was supposed to be funny? To copy a bad scene from a bad movie is funny? I tell you, it doesn't.

My personal view is that they knew this was bad and tried to maximize the errors so this would become a cult movie, such as the toxic avenger, for example. But even in that they failed.

Incredibly Cheesy...Just as I expected!

[rageragger · 7/10 · 15 September 2014]

To all the people who look down or where disappointed with this film. You clearly did not get it. The movie perfectly captures the cheesy-ness and imperfections that we know and love in the AVGN series. and in that regard everything suits just fine.

Because you don't watch a movie like this for it's Plot, it's incredible CG or incredible Action scene's. So what do you watch it for? Besides the fact that it's an Homage to the Nerd and having a great deal of respect for someone that has achieved his childhood dream. I watched it, and Enjoyed it the same way I enjoyed watching someone's high school film project.

You know the kid in your class that's alway's tinkering and creating stuff that gets you curious and jealous at the same time. That's Rolfe. It's fun to see where his imagination has taken him this time. And what he created with the little tools he had to work with.

Especially during the second half of the movie I really got a Thunderbirds vibe out of it. Rolfe's choice to NOT use 3D and instead turn to models and miniatures is what adds to the charm. And really impressed me, sure it looks Goofy as hell. but consider for a moment that all those props where handmade and had to be shot right in One take. else you have to make the prop all over from scratch!

The only real problem I had was with the Nerds new sidekick Cooper. he served NO purpose when Mike Matei or Kyle Justin would fit that role so much better. They where already established characters from the show and they only get a 5 second cameo. Which was a big disappointment.

All 'n all it's not a perfect film, and neither where any of the Nerd episodes. Most of us have grown up since first seeing the Nerd and it has changed our perspective on the AVGN's comedy and charm when newer episodes come out today. It's the same thing with the movie. Rolfe made this movie in the image of the classic nerd. with all it's cheesy elements in it.

Please, Nerd, review the AVGN movie

[grintemcstinger · 3/10 · 11 September 2014]

AVGN episodes are a lot of fun. James Rolfe took all his frustrations, funny and odd moments one experiences while playing those old, retro games and created a series that not only old school gamers enjoy, but also the younger generations, because it introduces them, in a humorous way, how gaming used to be. It's a clever idea and executed in an efficient way. The show makes fun of the "so bad it's good" moments and, most importantly, feels genuine. The movie however... well where do I start?

Its not that much of a problem that the movie immediately feels amateurish. That is pretty much to be expected, after all this is a low-budget production and his first time at a project this big. The same goes for the plot, acting, writing, special effects etc. Some of it is deliberately that way. But even at the lowered expectations, I can't help it not to feel disappointed. The main issue here is that it tries to be so much more than it actually is. For a series that is about a guy expressing his frustrations on an old game (or movie) it sure strays far away form it. And this is where it loses all the charm that makes the series work. It never leaves enough room for the nerd to do what he always does. Too much of it is wasted on the build-up and on things that just aren't relevant to the series. His hilarious rants are replaced by incredibly cheesy dialog, lame jokes and bad slapstick. There isn't even an actual game in it, instead you get some imitation called "Eee Tee", which is understandable since they would have to get the license, but the let-down here is that the movie is all about getting him to review it, and not about the review itself. There isn't much game in it. What is kinda a saving grace for a movie like "The Wizard" is completely absent here.

It goes for the so-bad-its-good-humor, but being that the movie is so self-aware about it, it always ends up feeling forced like it deliberately lets something shitty happen and then just expects you to laugh it up. The first half of the movie drags on and almost bored me out. The second half was better, mainly due to the action, Godzilla-style scenes, which were fun, but ultimately are wasted because it ends absurdly quick with a poor conclusion.

So was the movie worth the wait and the sacrifices? Probably only for the die-hard AVGN fan(boy)s. Everyone else will likely agree that the amount of episodes he could've made in the meantime would've been so much more worth it. For James and his crew I hope it's a valuable lesson and that he stays humble about it. AVGN isn't exactly movie friendly material, so I at least can applaud his attempt. It is ironic that the movie thematizes the "shitty is the new good" idea yet tries to promote the same thing for itself, while completely failing to deliver any good laughs or at least make it feel authentic. The fun the crew apparently had while making it, never showed on the screen. Trash can be fun if done right, but that's not the case here. It's just so bad it's bad.

Basically a good movie

[paintbait · 7/10 · 23 September 2014]

Now this movie is getting thrashed here on IMDb, and that's fair enough. People don't like what they don't like and you should read what they have to say. However it seems there was too much expectation, which leads to an overwhelming number of poor reviews. This is fair, too, since a 300 million dollar movie with tons of hype that doesn't live up to the expectation will see this too. Now I'm not going to compare this movie to a 300 million dollar blockbuster, it clearly came to life on a shoestring budget.

It's easy to point out all the things not to like. The acting is pretty hammy, and that's why I didn't rate this movie more than around average, but I took the whole experience with a grain of salt. This film just smells of 'fan service', and in that respect it does okay. The script is fairly imaginative, and generally allows anyone to watch the film even if they have no earthly idea who James Rolfe's character is in real-life internet culture. The set up actually should have been longer in my opinion, this was probably the strongest part of the film before the climax.

The characters in this movie are...B-Movie material, but are only bad if you take the movie as being something beyond face-value. The special effects are a great nod to an earlier time where practical effects were king. This was my favorite part of the movie hands down. Some plot devices were totally ridiculous, but if you're a fan of Jame Rolfe's earlier work this will just feel normal, though in a few cases he tried a little too hard to force a gag that didn't land over and over. The movie suffers from too much ambition and too many characters; the director obviously had a difficult time juggling the story for each character and maintaining a cohesive plot from start to finish as a result.

I would recommend seeing this film if you're a fan of the Director's work, or if you just like off-beat films with silly stories and practical effects. I liked it, maybe you will too, or maybe you won't and that's fine too.

Has nothing memorable about it

[bazmitch23 · 3/10 · 20 March 2015]

Whereas other low budget films like "Tokyo Gore Police", "Vampire Girl VS Frankenstien Girl", "Machine Girl", "Bad Taste" and the original "Evil Dead" were very low budget, they are memorable because of how extreme and screwed up they were.

They have moments that would have you talk to your friends about; "Oh there's a moment where this gruesome scene happens" and so on.

AVGN The Movie has nothing screwed up or extreme about it.

It doesn't have any exciting scenes that you're dying to tell your friends.

It is cool that James has finally made his first feature film. But he's not a professional filmmaker, he's more of an internet video maker.

The jokes in this are quite poor. Since neither James or Kevin are professional comedy writers, we have some really lame jokes that are obviously from first timers who have never written comedy before.

James himself is not an actor and yes, his bad acting adds a charm to the Nerd. That's fine for 15 minutes, but when you keep up the bad acting for 2 hours, the charm wears out very fast.

Yes, the overuse of the Nerd making references to fecal matter is just tiresome. It was tiresome in the show and it is no better here.

The cinematography is lame and feels like a straight to DVD film than an actual movie. Even the trailer looked cheap and bad.

This movie looks more like something you would see on the Sy-fy channel than a theatrical feature.

The special effects in this movie are bad, but are intentionally so for the sake of comedy, like in Austin Powers, Team America, The Lego Movie, Harry Hill's work and The Young Ones. But those movies and shows were actually funny.

Here, the joke doesn't work. It could be the really bad HD and straight to video feel that puts off the charm of the bad effects.

Also the sloppy editing. There are some unfinished looking shots here.

The movie is self aware it's low budget and tries to make fun of itself, but it's just not funny. I'm not a fan of self deprecation. It's too "winking at the audience" for me.

I will have to admit, the score is very good. The opening theme is amazing and I like the theme "Birds Before Nerds".

If this was an internet movie like the TGWTG Anniversary specials, it would've worked. But here, it's an internet movie trying to be theatrical and fails.

AVGN works as an internet series, but not as a movie.

I expected better from James

[AstridKent · 20 June 2018]

James Rolfe is a huge inspiration to me and led me to discover my love for filmmaking, i'm also a huge fan of the AVGN series. So it saddens me to say I couldn't even finish this waste of time. I followed the production from announcement to completion and I can't believe how truly awful it is.. After seeing this Im left to wonder if James is in any way a competent filmmaker. Ive seen all his college films and while they aren't great they show technical competence and at least some creative ability. What it boils down to is James doesnt seem to be an especially imaginative or creative person, at least if this film is anything to go by. Everything in this film is ripped from things James likes such as video games, giant monster movies, zombie movies you get the idea. Ive seen almost all his videos so I know what he likes in movies and while he loves the superficial elements things like story, character, good writing and all the key components of a good film dont seem to interest him and this film fully demonstrates it. This isn't a movie its James Rolfe emptying his nostalgic fantasies onto the screen and putting his angry video game nerd character in the centre of it all. There is no attempt to tell a compelling story, give us interesting characters or even competent effects. The comedy is pitiful and well below what James has demonstrated in his AVGN series. James has always had a love for practical effects and has given many a bitter tirade about modern cgi so in this film he aimed for as many practical effects as possible. Are they charming? Sure. Are they in any way convincing? Of course not and maybe this was the intention but James, if you aren't gonna take this film seriously why should we? This movie is just a massive in joke and comes across as senseless. Its not funny its not entertaining and as a huge AVGN fan I was severely let down. I wish James all the best in his future projects but honestly as much as his journey inspired my younger self part of me wonders if James is just a poor filmmaker. I love James' passion but that passion is wasted in garbage like this.

Fans should be happy

[destroyerwod · 8/10 · 9 August 2014]

I was able to catch the last screening of the fantasia film festival in Montreal. I am so glad James decided to take the movie here. As a huge Nerd fan, i couldn't wait to see the movie.

The audience at this screening was much more into then what the other guy said for the July review. People applauded for a lot of scenes and special moment that i won't mention for surprise purpose. I was glad to be part of that and keep a good memory of this.

The movie itself was very funny. Its true there was some jokes that felt flat, and its not a perfect things from A to Z, but which movie is perfect? As a fan of the web series i enjoyed it a lot. Of course it had to go out of the Nerd room, but i think they respected the Nerd universe very well. There is a lot of winks in the movie to previous stuff and if you understand what James tried to do, you will like the style of it as well.

Some people mentioned the side kick character being not the best point of the movie, and i kinda agree. The fact of having an iconic character like the Nerd with a random "new" character added was hard to get at first but as time pass by i got used to him. Not the actor's fault at all. As for all the other characters, i enjoyed them, good villains especially.

Since Mike Matei does not really "exist" as himself in the nerd universe i can understand he was not one of the main character but somewhat i wish they would had write a character for him, the chemistry with him and James would had been better. And we are used to the guy.

In any case, an awesome time, and its the first time i attend a film festival, so for my first time it was a great one and I'm glad i was able to be part of this. I will surely buy this on DVD when it release and i am sure its one of those movie i will even enjoy more when i see it for a second, third, fourth time and such.

It took a long time to finally be able to see this movie, but it was worth the wait. Congratulation to James and the Cinemassacre team.

Too many forced moments

[keith-janski · 6/10 · 15 September 2014]

Looking at the reviews here on IMDb.com, it seems that a lot of people don't understand James Rolfe's direction he took with this film. It is meant to be a parody of every movie cliché basically. Even on those merits though I am not sure if the movie still works.

If you have followed James Rolfe's work on his website cinemaccarcre.com you will know that he is not just a video game buff, but also a movie buff of the horror genre in particular. I think he is actually more of a monster/horror movie fan more than a video game fan. The reason why he came off as mostly a video game buff is because he realized that his "Angry Video Game Nerd" character was the most popular of his video series so he directed his attention on that character the most.

When he got a chance to make his AVGN movie, he didn't just want it to be a video game movie but more of a "Cinemassacre" movie incorporating all of the elements of his videos into the movie well as putting every movie cliché in the film for humor.

It's hard for me to critique this movie because it doesn't take itself seriously. In some ways I like it and in some ways I don't. I think the biggest problem with it is that James has scenes and ideas shoehorned in rather than bridged in a coherent manner. There is also too much forced humor. If you watch earlier episodes of the Angry Video Game Nerd pre-2010/2011 you will find he is much more subtle in his role. At some point he became too self aware of the character and his acting became forced.

He said in one of his videos that he had been writing the script since he started the Nerd character, I was hoping it would be more of the pre-2010 nerd writing and not the post 2010 writing. Unfortunately it sounds awfully like his post 2010 writing.

The funnest part of the film I thought was the campy effects. The soundtrack for the movie by Bear McCreary is also excellent. I suggest you check that out if you haven't already.

This movie sucks.

[concannon_b · 3/10 · 5 September 2014]

The Angry Video game Nerd (AVGN) is a popular internet icon that found his fame by reviewing old video games. Some of the Nerd's (James Rolfe) reviews are great classics like Bugs Bunny and Batman for old video game consoles. For this movie? He obviously wasn't thinking straight.

At first it seemed like a good movie. It's very different from the Nerd's classic video game reviewing style. Some of the classic reviews featured guest speakers, but this movie's first problem occurs when a character named Cooper appears.

Why does this need to happen? Cooper's character feels completely unnecessary and was never established in any previous review or within this movie itself. How would you like it if you were watching a movie, when suddenly a random character appears without any introduction or development? Why did James Rolfe think this would be a good idea? Did he think it would be more realistic? This is quite possibly one of the most annoying things any movie could do. Although Cooper is constantly trying to convince the Nerd to review an old ATARI video game, E.T., but Cooper feels very shallow, as a character, while constantly trying to do this.

Why does the Nerd constantly complain and refuse to review the E.T. game, despite Cooper and Mandi's constant nagging, when he's reviewed horrible game titles in the past (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde).

Many of the comedy elements in this movie feel like cheap gags, such as the General Dark Onward getting his arms cutoff by accidents as he attempts to pursue the Nerd, throughout the majority of the movie. Another cheap gag was Cooper's character falling from houses and off cliffs, filmed using a dummy.

One of the worst things about this movie was how the character Mandi was handled. She is constantly placed on the receiving end of jokes. By the time Mandi is thrown-up on, used as a cheap "sounds like innuendo in the next room but actually isn't" joke, captured by the General Dark Onward and abandoned when she needed help- I actually felt bad for Mandi. The "Nerds before birds" gag didn't add up to any of the fun in this movie.

In the movie, the actual review of E.T. doesn't take place until during the end credits. Any fan of the Nerd knows that the entire episode shows the video game review is meant to be the main element. The AVGN tradition is meant to go like this: the nerd introduces an old classic video game, spending the majority of the time talking about the game's worst flaws, while swearing and throwing fits of rage. The actual E.T. review lacks many of these nuanced elements. Perhaps this movie would have been better if it featured a series of about four reviews? Rather than an entire movie entirely focused on one?

Some of the puzzles are too hard to figure out. Take this dead end, for example. Would you guess you have to pass through this wall? How? You have to kneel down with a red crystal and....oops, one sec...

Most of the characters have things to say which aren't important at all. So why pay attention to them? The giant robot that appears, while looking cool despite the low budget, felt adjacent to the actual plot and felt one-dimensional.

The ending sucks too.

It is everything any fan could want it to be

[robhigg2203 · 10/10 · 2 September 2014]

No major plot details are revealed, but some details may be too much information for fans who have not seen it yet.

I have heard some crazy film ideas in the past, and aside from the Sims movie they thankfully never made there was no doubt this topped the list. How do you make a 2 hour movie based on a character like the angry video game nerd? Well now the movie is out online for the world to see and despite my last comments I was seriously hyped to see this. And there is no doubt that they succeeded.

I discovered the original web series I think it was back in 2008, some guys I knew back at University were goofing off in the classroom and showed me several reviews in the process. I don't remember which ones they were but I was hooked immediately.

And so years of waiting with the only kind of release date being "in this life time" the AVGN movie is here. And while it has it's no doubt intentional flaws, it is so freaking awesome that I don't even care. The movie expands further on the character and shows a whole other side to him that you could have never got in the online series. James Rolfe had compared his vision for this to the Wayne's World movies and here it works.

Here truly is a 2 hour movie about the Nerd we know and love on his own adventure and not just entirely a game review. There is a proper review as we would expect (and plenty reviews of fictional games) but for the most part I never really gave it much thought until towards the end of the film when you start to think it's coming. (The review itself was actually refreshing new way of looking at the "worst game of all time.) But a lot of the humour that you associate with the series was still there, its not as gross out as you come to expect but there is more heart to it and I felt that was something that kept the movie engaging.

So if you are a fan of the web series and you could not make it to the screenings, then what are you waiting for?

A movie From the Nerd, The imagination of James Rolfe, Creates an at least satisfying movie for those who love the series.

[cardboardboxofdeath · 7/10 · 5 September 2014]

Let me start off by saying, I am a fan of the Angry Video game Nerd. I think anyone using the internet more than they should, should be familiar with the Angry video game nerd and his antics and his reviews, And as such I think that James is probably one of the few guys who can keep up with his style of reviewing video games and then cursing his way on screen. Mainly because HE PRETTY MUCH INVENTED IT, and more importantly made it popular. I believe one close friend of James put it "He's like a Mad scientist of Entertainment"

That being said, I've been seeing a lot of mixed reviews coming from both ends of the spectrum, and one of the most defining thing that shows up is the word "HYPE." centered around false expectations made from seeing a trailer, as well as some behind the scenes info that James himself puts up, the mind wanders about to all kinds of possibilities of what an AVGN movie could be about, and how it can turn out.

Upon seeing the movie twice, In my opinion I think this movie is entertaining. is it the best movie in existence? no absolutely not. Is it a good movie made on a 300,000 Dollar budget, Nothing but Jame's imagination, and the pure fandom of the AVGN? yeah it's pretty entertaining. To put it into perspective. Waynes World has a budget of 20,000,000 dollars, and Bill and Ted's excellent Adventure has a Budget of 10,000,000 Dollars, compared that to the 300,000 that James had, and you have a technically impressive as well as a solid entertaining B-movie.

PLOT: I'm assuming you saw the film when you read this, so please remember spoilers ahead. The plot I felt was pretty solid, only having a few minor conveniences being placed here and there. One of the things that really irked me was the the AVGN was popular in the movie, as it's portrayed in real life. To me I feel like with such the exaggerated world that James has built up, he could've done a better job at having the Nerd be a separate entity besides just a guy who posts videos online, That 15 minute intro where james uses internet clips really irritated me, I felt like with the way the whole movie was done, he could've came up with a more creative way to show that. The rest of the movie itself picks up after The Nerd has his first dream sequence. Form then on there, I was having some fun with the movie. The plot with the US government and the Area 51, along with the scientists were a nice touch to an otherwise drab excavation story, and I felt like they went along nicely with the tone of the movie. Again the only thing that really kept taking me out of the movie were some conveniences, like how cooper could easily find Dr.Zandor, as well as the weird video game type sequence that was in Dr. Zandor's house to test if the AVGN was a gamer or not, things like that, Although in contrast, some of it does go well with the tone of the movie. Things like the Death Mwauthzyx or the Actual E.T being part of the world didn't really bother me, instead I found it to be nice set pieces for continuing the story.

Characters: here's where most of the issues with the movie are. and if the writing for some of the characters just got a bit more development and treatment, this would've been like an 8 or a 9 out of 10. The Nerd himself is a"kind of/sort of" developed character, He is seen as a stoic, kind of whiner, who doesn't want to deal with some of the stuff that's been thrust upon him. which is okay, but The AVGN has always been more of an extension of James Rolfe's Rage. and I feel like if they had fleshed him out just a bit more, james could've had like some kind of arc that he goes through. he's not completely bad, He kind of goes through the motions, The only really motivation he has for anything really is because he doesn't want people to play E.T and be mentally scared like he was. That and he likes his fans too much.

The same with the other two main characters in the movie. Cooper was "sort of" fleshed out, as was mandi, they really didn't have that much personality. and in the end where cooper kisses Mandi, really wasn't set up, so there wasn't any type of emotion i felt when they kissed (be it romance or like a victorious feeling for cooper). the rest of the characters are fine seeing as they really don't need any more personality than they needed, seeing as its like a good guy/Bad guy type of story anyways. but I mean if They had fleshed out the main characters a bit more, this would've been one hell of a B-Movie.

All in all, The Movie is entertaining, I certainly felt entertained by jame's Iconic humor, and I felt like he had a sort of balance between his humor and the way the movie functioned, Obviously he got to pick and show and film a lot of the B-movie type genres and incorporate it into the film. which I enjoyed.

again for this type of budget, and the way james is, it's a solid movie. what more can I say, He's the Fu*king nerd.

A Let-Down... a HUGE Let-Down

[melancholy_rose · 2/10 · 4 September 2014]

As much as I love James Rolfe and his reviews, and with how long I've been watching his stuff, his first film suffered from some serious problems.

My first issue with it was how the first half hour of the film was all of the self-puffery. What I expected going into the movie was just the Nerd going about his usual day. A lot of immersion into his story was removed by the instant flood of "look how famous I am." Don't get me wrong, I'm really proud of Mr. Rolfe, and he deserves the credit for trying and working so hard, but it really put me off with how full of himself he seemed through most of this. He's the ANGRY Video Game Nerd, not the narcissistic.

It is James' character, so he's allowed to create it any way he wants, but it really rubbed me the wrong way. It seemed so prideful.

Second... the dialogue is some of the worst I've ever heard, and the worst acted. I'm sorry, but it was just terribly corny. I know that it's SORT OF in the spirit of the AVGN, but he had a system that worked fine in his reviews that seemed a bit... tweaked in the movie to fit "mass appeal." I know James is a child at heart, but there's a difference between being youthful, and acting like a kid. In fact, I have a feeling that if I saw this film as a CHILD, I might like it better. As an adult, it was just bad. Really bad. Unwatchably bad.

I can't give James a hard time for the special effects. He's not a mega-millionaire and he had to work with the budget he had. Some of the effects looked well-done. Others were... embarrassing.

The story had potential to be amusing, but what killed most of the comedic value for me was the "black buddy" Cooper. He had no purpose in the film other than to crack bad jokes and annoy everyone. I don't know if his dialogue was written that way on purpose, but every time he opened his mouth, I wanted to punch it repeatedly.

Overall, I love AVGN reviews... but I think James should just stick to those, and hopefully never make a sequel. I applaud him for putting in all of the effort-- it's not easy to make a movie all by yourself with very little advice on how to do so-- and I can tell he tried really hard. It just was a massive waste of time and money.

I'd rather have a buffalo take a diarrhea dump in my ear than watch it a second time.

Another Tribute to Console Gamers of Old

[org1andrew · 7/10 · 14 October 2014]

I've been a fan of James Rolfe since the 80s so I can say I'm a bit of an expert here. My question to most of these reviewers is: why would anyone think this film would be anything other than Rolfe's pleasure child? It's a fan-funded film. I can't imagine that anybody involved would expect a studio to pick it up or fund a sequel. It doesn't have enough of an advertising budget for that. Rolfe made this for himself and for the fans, and it shows. It's his life's work (and at such a young age!).

It's clear that he threw his absolute creativity into this. His love for Godzilla-like movies took the stage in what was for me the best part of the movie. Lots of console-cult-culture pumping. Some jokingly obvious lesbian overtones that border on the erotic (perhaps too much).

This film's not exactly good, but it certainly has enough creativity to keep me watching. I can't say that for most of the films many of you watch these days.

Makes me sad, as always, that an equivalent 80s-90s PC gaming culture never flourished outside of the deep dark caverns of the 'true' nerds who still have yet to see much cult recognition, save for a few legendary RPG and RTS developers.

Anyways, congrats to Rolfe on this, and keep doing what you do best.