Gamers

I picked up this movie in the hope it would be similar to the hilarious "The Gamers" by Dead Gentlemen Productions (which is highly recommendable, by the way). Boy, what a disappointment! The movie is shot in this fake documentary style made famous by the office but it fails to deliver. The reason is partly the stiff acting but mostly the writing and directing. True, it can be funny to use every singe cliché there is about role playing games, but here it is done in such a way that it becomes extremely predictable. Already at the beginning of each scene you know what the "joke" will be about. But maybe the biggest problem is that everything is depicted way over the top. There is no subtlety in this movie, if there would be captions "LAUGH NOW" or a cheap 80s-style fake-laughter track it would not make much difference. With some scenes you can't help to think "Yea, I get why they thought this would be funny" but the way it is executed takes all momentum out of the possible joke.

I just got this from Hollywood Video for $2 used. I had read it was really goofy and stupid, and yes it is. But it's also fun and if you like D&D or larping or even just the movie role models it's fun! It's a cheesy mockumentary about a group of men who have been role playing for over 20 years and are breaking a record by playing a D&D type game called Demons, Nymphs, and Dragons. The cursing is abundant, the humor is toilet, and I think you have to be at least semi nerdy to have a good time with this. It's definitely not a main stream movie that most would enjoy. But if you like a dirty Napolean Dynamite type humor then you may find something appealing. Much better than expected.

As a gamer, I can't say I like this film. Fact is, I down right hate it. I tried to watch it as open minded as possible, but when it gets down to it, it feels rather insulting to my social group.

To me, there are several reasons why.

1. The characters seem unnatural. I've met lots of players, of all different walks of life. I don't know any who act like any of the characters in the film. It's like the producers of the film have taken the worst aspects of the worst stereotypes and put them all into 5 people. Most gamers are rather social people, some with rather active lives.

2. The style doesn't work. The mockumentary style is ill suited to the subject matter of the film. An actual documentary on gamers would actually work better. While it is good looking (I.E. cleanly put together), it isn't very good.

3. The dialogue feels forced, unnatural. It also seems to lack any real world context. Gamers swear, I'll admit that, but we don't have Tourette's Syndrome.

4. The humor is lacking. While self-deprecating humor is a mainstay of my group and several other groups I've encountered, this is less self-deprecation, and more like toilet humor. Likewise, a large part of gamer humor is full of in-jokes and anecdotes, not toilet humor. Most gamers would balk at and shun anybody who made such jokes.

5. The biggest problem to me is basically this: Accuracy. I don't mean rules, but instead dynamics. Invariably, this film is going to be compared to the even lower budget films The Gamers and The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, both of which portray the players as actual people playing an actual game. The difference is, Gamers: The Movie presents a situation where you want to beat the players senseless vs. The Gamers, where you can say something like: "Huh, I know a guy like that... Yep, that's definitely like Gary."

I saw this at the March 21st screening and really enjoyed it. The cast has terrific chemistry--think of the give and take between the three main characters in "Office Space" and you've got the vibe of the "Gamers" cast. Funny throughout with some great lines that are going to become inside catch phrases. Even if you never got involved with a role playing game, you know someone who has and you'll be able to relate. My nearly 20-year old son was sitting next to me on one side, my somewhat older boyfriend was sitting on the other side, and we all three laughed through the entire movie. Good luck getting distribution--the movie certainly deserves to be seen.

Hi, i'm Spanish and i'm looking for Spanish or at least English subtitles for this movie. If u know where i can get it, please send me an email to "babastida@ozu.es". Thanks.

I and many of my friends, all of us D&D/RPG fans, want to see this film, but our level of English is not the sufficient one to understand the jokes correctly.

Additionally, it does not seem to me correct that it is so difficult to find subtitles in English for this movie, considering that there are people who can't hear.

Thanks anyone reading this and trying to help.