This was a movie that I’ve actually seen before, some years back. I oddly didn’t remember it that well but I knew I liked it. Which is odd cause a lot of movies that I liked, I can remember.

Anyway, there’s not much to this movie honestly. It’s basically Revenge of the Nerds mashed with Animal House. It’s like…cool nerds, believe it or not. Anyway, the plot is as such.

Mitch is a 15-year-old who is way too smart for his grade, his parents, and most people around him. He gets a scholarship to a MIT-type college that’s full of smart people like himself and he’s been tasked to help Professor Jerry Harvey Peck (William Atherton, who I wonder if he ever got tired of the typecasting) help build a giant death laser for the government. Except he doesn’t tell Mitch or the other students working on it that it’s a “DEATH” laser, but just a regular ol’ laser that can obliterate everything in it’s path. But it’s NOT FOR DEATH, OK?!?

Mitch is paired up with Christopher Knight (Val Kilmer), resident smartass and another smart guy, a little too smart for his own good really. Chris likes cracking wise to everyone around him and doesn’t take much seriously, much to Mitch’s chagrin. Also, Uncle Rico seems to live in their closet.

There’s a rival nerd named Kent who doesn’t like taking orders from a 15-year-old and instantly because a problem for Mitch and Chris. Mitch also meets a spaz girl named Jordan who he instantly falls in love with and I admit she’s cute but holy hell she can be annoying, but in a charming way. Charmingly annoying? Put that on my tombstone.

And honestly, that’s really it for a bit. The middle section is just Chris being a smartass, Mitch trying to fit in but unable to, Kent being a dick to everybody, and Professor Jerry Harvey Peck being an unbearable douchebag. Professor Jerry Harvey Peck gets sick of Chris’ shenanigan’s and threatens to flunk him out of college until he fixes the Totally Not Death Laser for him and he instantly passes him.

When Uncle Rico, who turned out to be a former resident smart guy on campus, tells Chris and Mitch that their laser is actually a death laser, cause it, you know, does death, Chris and Mitch try to undo their work but it’s too late: Professor Jerry Harvey Peck has taken the frickin’ laser to the military so they can laser kill Gaddafi or whatever they’re trying to do.

So Chris and Mitch use their trouble making skills to sneak onto the military base, hack into the laser’s computer, and change the coordinates. Where are they changing the coordinates to? Well, Professor Jerry Harvey Peck just had a house built and he’s rather fond of this house. He hates when people dirty it up. He also hates popcorn for some reason…

The military tests the laser and instead of going to it’s intended target, it hits Professor Jerry Harvey Peck’s house, more specifically, this giant tin of Jiffy Pop that showed up inside his house. The laser causes the popcorn to pop and blow the roof off and the house off it’s foundation.

Also a 19-year-old girl shacks up with a 15-year-old boy and a 30-something year old man shacks up with a 18-year-old girl. Is this movie cancelled yet?

I really like this movie despite the middle part where not much happens. You except more crazy exploits from Chris but he only does a little bit in the beginning and then a bunch at the end. He does distract Mitch by having a weird pool party in the school auditorium but that’s about it. It’s main focus is the students working on the stupid laser and trying to fix it and Kent being a dick for no reason and tormenting Mitch. But yes, I do like this movie just fine.

2.5 rating systems out of 5.

-Jason