Die Vidioten

Thank you all for your support of this wonderfully perverse piece of classic entertainment! When Mickey Epps and I wrote the original screenplay we never thought it would turn into a piece of movie memorabilia. Sex comedies in the 80's will never return (that could be good or bad), but nonetheless, playing video games topless or in your underwear is now done in the privacy of the home and no longer in video arcades. So, worry not, you naysayers of this pulchritudinous adventure in film-making, you will not see a sequel to this movie. But because of it, I'm sure you've created a number of memorable moments in your own personal histories at various drive-ins and the back rows of the movie theaters! Long live teen sex comedies... long live perverted, out-of-work, over-aged, have nothing better to do writers... like myself!!!!!

I purchased this movie on VHS on a sellout day at a video shop that was selling old movies... i think i payed $2. very original content, in the same line as under the mountain (director Peter Jackson) or brain dead... if you like this sort of thing then you will like this movie. yeah its about a bunch of kids who love their arcade, and some old idiots get their nephews to try to close down the video parlor. it comes down to a head to head challenge on an arcade game to decide if the video parlor will stay or be shut down... very funny looking at the style of cloths they wore, and typical of that era their are the punks and the squares

Right, well I wasn't overly expecting much from a movie such as this, but I must admit that I was actually pleasantly surprised that the movie turned out to be as entertaining as it was.

Sure, this was corny and very 1980s in terms of how the movie fared and went. But it was that exact corny level of nerdiness and glorious old fashioned video arcade and the games that added to the charm of the movie.

The storyline in "Joysticks" was basically as simple as they come. A local video arcade is in risk of having to close as a local powermonger has taken a personal quest to see it closed. The youth of the video arcade must come together in order to ensure the survival of their beloved video arcade.

As for the acting in the movie, well it was adequate. And let's just say that you will get exactly what to be expected for a movie such as this. However, having been watching movies since the early 1980s, then there is definitely a heap of familiar faces on the cast list. Including the names such as Jon Gries, Joe Don Baker, John Diehl, John Voldstad and Corinne Bohrer.

While "Joysticks" by no means is a classic, then there is definitely some nostalgic value to it, especially if you grew up with video arcades around. "Joysticks" is worth watching a single time, but hardly can sustain more than a single viewing.

Okay, so Joysticks is poorly made. But I for one find it rather nostalgic. This movie has something about it. Whether it's the fact that it takes place in the summer (which gives it a relaxed feeling) or that it displays a culture I never knew, I find this film totally addictive. I suppose it's just that it's different from most comedy's you see today (they definately don't make movies like they used to). Something like that could only happen on film in the 80's.

Anyway, if you were around when all this was really going on, I really reccommend you see this. Trust me, you'll love it!

... like no other movie of it's time, this low budget exploitation GEM literally embodies the 1980s like no other. "Joysticks," capturing the time of video arcades and gaming, when it was still something new and mind blowing. Those who are able to leave their pretentions at the door can be transported back to a world without the tiresome worries of adult responsibility, that short lived time when getting laid and hanging with our friends while looking like rock stars at all times was our only concern . The plot is simple : a middle-aged jackass thinks his Valley girl daughter is wasting her life hanging at the local video arcade, so he embarks on a campaign to close the place down. Here ensues a classic "Generation War" as the local kids, the "Vidiots" shut the old guy down at every turn. "Joysticks" is loaded with color, music, quck cuts, T&A, and best of all... comedy that is so completely wacky that it's actually funny. If you were born in the 70s and were lucky enough to have that coveted cable TV box in your home, chances are that THIS movie is locked into your psyche for all time. Yeah, they used to show "Joysticks" on the Showtime channel, which was racier than the more family friendly HBO, and they would only air it after 10pm because of all that T&A.. I guess they had the idea that the kids would be in their beds that late at night, but that was a misjudgement. The parents were asleep, oblivious to all the fun the kids were having with movies like this. Watching this today is certainly an experience, a real nostalgia overload. There were countless teen oriented movies like this, but "Joysticks" with its otherworldly set design and shameless juvenile humor and objectification of women, stands out as the King of them all. Show this one to your teenaged kids, and make them jealous that they were born too late.