Gamers

Written & Directed by Christopher Folino

Starring Kevin Sherwood, Kevin Kirkpatrick, Scott Rinker, Dave Hanson, and Joe Nieves
Guest starring John Heard, Beverly D’Angelo, Kelly LeBrock, William Katt, Meredith Zealy, Chris Hollyfield, and many more

I’m not sure what’s worse: being a gamer (albeit in high school), or watching a movie about gamers carrying their pastime well into adulthood.

And we’re not talking videogames, board games, card games, or even paintball (although it does make an appearance in the film). Dungeons and Dragons, baby: The DM Guide, Monster Manuals, collections of dice and all the accoutrements of late-night indoors geekdom.

The saving graces of this film are two-fold: first, it pulls no punches in making the lead characters out to be the geekiest of the geeks, the loser-ists of the losers, and the epitomes of pathetic-ness. Setting up the pecking order of this motley crew results in some of the cruelest and funniest film moments you’re likely to see. And very few of the situations are as over-the-top as a National Lampoon movie. These are things you’d do to your best friends, and dream of doing to your worst enemy.

The second saving grace, and frankly the most impressive bit of the execution of this movie is the cast. The main characters come across as unknowns until you read their bios and realize, “Yeah, I have seen that guy before.” But go back up and look at the guest stars. Big names. Small picture. And great performances of not-too-over-the-top characters.

As much as I want to pan this film and make fun of it, I just can’t. It’s self-deprecating all on its own. The main problem is finding it. As of tonight, it’s still not available through NetFlix, so you’ve either really got to search, or just order it from the creators online (http://www.gamers-themovie.com/sstore.htm).

Coolness: Filmed in the next town over from me. Well, that’s cool to me!
Dorkness: Because this film is an homage to dorkness, this is pretty much not applicable.
Bottom line: While this doesn’t make me pine for the good old days of all-night D&D parties, I do miss those friends from back in the day. And everyone needs a Reese.