There are two audiences locked in uneasy détente in the direct-to-video marketplace: (1.) Those tickled to come across another NERDS installment and (2.) Those discerning, intelligent viewers ready to march on Hollywood to propose a moratorium on this series. If you're in the latter
category, the polyester putzes will definitely get their revenge on you as you sit watching this lobotomized film.
When Booger (Curtis Armstrong) wins the hand of blueblood wallflower Jeannie (Corinne Bohrer), her politically ambitious father, Aaron Humphrey (Joseph Bologna) encourages his spineless son-in-law Chip (Stephen Davies) to discredit the groom-to-be. Although Aaron's wife, Tippy (Christina Pickles)
and Chip's spouse, Gaylord (Jessica Tuck) resign themselves to muddying their upper crust gene pool with Nerd chromosomes, Chip interrupts pre-nuptial merriment (preceded by a bride and groom burp-in) with erroneous reports about Booger's secret love child.
Among the other outlandish events rocking Aaron's schmoozing conservatism are a bridal shower at the Rump Roast Room (complete with food fight) and a bachelor party (capped off by a conga line). Supported by loyal pals like Lewis (Robert Carradine), Takahashi (Brian Tochi), and Lamar (Larry B.
Scott), Booger withstands the smear campaign. Although Booger resists the wiles of a stag-party stripper hired by Chip, he can't dispel Jeannie's misgivings once Chip produces a rented illegitimate child. As true love conquers Aaron and Chip's subterfuge, the Booger-Jeannie nuptials go on,
Lewis's wife gives birth at the ceremony, the principals pair up felicitiously, Chip is sent packing, and newlyweds Booger and Jeannie decide to adopt the orphan hired by Chip.
Goosing vulgarity until it ascends to new heights, NERDS 4 is made to order for the DUMB AND DUMBER set. What's most astonishing about this goofball series is that its portraiture of nerds isn't faithful to the sliderule-caressing, buttoned-down intellectuals nerds are supposed to be. The humor
should derive from the fact that the protagonists are so wrapped up in statistics and so cursed with a bewildering denial of fashion that they could be an alien life form. What this slobby comedy series does is paste the label "nerd" on crude creatures who seem to be misfit party animals.
Endorsing these pseudo-nerds for their crassness, the film amateurishly vomits up putrefied slapstick routines and wallows in moronic innuendo, while shifting occasionally into a creeping sentimental tone. And all this guff about accepting those different from oneself doesn't stop this distempered
farce from trafficking in not one but two offensive gay stereotypes. Totally witless, this equal-opportunity insulter is suitable for gradeschoolers fond of belching and for older viewers who remain at that low level of self-amusement all their lives. The movie does have one good line: Chip's
retort to a nerd, "The Elephant Man paid to see your mother."(Violence, profanity.) leave a comment
