7/10

Youtube’s favorite celebrity makes his big screen debut in a film about him hunting down the real life dump site of the E.T game for atari that some dub as the worst video game of all time. For those who don’t know, The Angry Video Game Nerd (Played by James Rolfe) is a character who reviews the worst in old school video games. I became a fan of the nerd in 2005. About a year after he debuted, and i have loved his videos ever sense. He plays the games that plagued my childhood, so there is always that feeling of relating to him. Now, if you have never heard of this character, then this film and the comedy that follows will be very hard to recommend to you. I do think you kind of have to know what you are getting into before watching a film that reaches the most extreme levels even for a man who has had appearances in his videos from Bugs Bunny to The Cowardly Lion to Jesus Christ himself. The film took eight years for James to make because he was the one making it from the get go. His fans are such a loyal fanbase that they paid the budget for the film entirely. That’s pretty impressive when you think about that fact alone. I thoroughly enjoyed the film not just because i am a fan of the character. I will get to what i enjoy a little later on, but i will go ahead and say that i didn’t even like the story of the film and i still gave it a high rating. I felt the story was done on a level a little big for a Youtube celebrity. I know that is supposed to be the point of a feature film, but i would’ve enjoyed a dialogue driven movie with The Nerd and his friends a little more than a full scale monster wars shoot em up that the movie becomes by the end of it. The story is really the only thing about the movie i didn’t enjoy. It’s hard to grade this film on the same scale as other films because it’s all amateurly done. These are people who have never done anything behind the camera on such a grand scale as this, but they pull it off. It’s the same reason why i have never and will never review the Sharknado films. They can’t be taken as serious films, so i can’t review them as such. Angry Video Game Nerd Movie is a lot better than those films though because the crew invested eight years into a film they very much believe in. One thing that made me insanely happy was the practical effects work. The crew could’ve saved money and time from going with basic CGI effects that are the fad today, but instead this is a love letter to such effect guru’s like Ray Harryhausen. It does look cheesy at times, but when you think about the hard work that went into it, you will appreciate it more for work ethic it gives. It was also great to see so many of The Nerd’s closest friends make cameos in the film. People like Mike Matei, The Nostalgia Critic, Keith Appercarry, and Pat The NES Punk come along for the ride, and you wish they would’ve had bigger parts. New comers Jeremy Suarez and Sarah Glendening give the film the acting credits that it needs. They play James closest friends in the film who follow him to the New Mexico desert to find the E.T game and get him to finally review it as it’s plagued his dreams since he was a child. Glendening in particular shows great comedic timing across from a man who freestyles curse words like they are going out of fashion. It was nice to see this film finally reach the finish line as it was supposed to be done four years ago. It shows that any film maker big or small can reach for the biggest dreams and still make them come true. Angry Video Game Nerd Movie is a calling card to the games of yesterday that were left behind for bigger and bolder systems. It’s a film that reminds us we wouldn’t be anywhere today without the triumphs and tragedies of the games that brought us here. I recommend the film to fans of the nerd only. Everyone else will be lost. A side recommendation would be his 15 minute Youtube documentary called “Dragon in my Dreams”.