Zero Charisma

Sam Eidson does a fantastic job playing Scott, an old loser with an old school nerd gimmick. Living with his Nanna, but thinking he's a big shot. "Because I'm the game master, that's why," says the bumper sticker on his unimpressive car. Scott takes the audience with him on his descent from lowly loneliness into the abyss of public embarrassment via a myriad of burnt social bridges. Scott's ugly demise at the hands of Miles, played brilliantly by Garrett Graham is a thing of comic beauty. Scott's futile attempt to maintain his reign over his nerdlings falls short. Katie Folger is a bright spot, playing Kendra, Miles' girlfriend. "The gods must be avenged," as Scott would say, and you must watch this movie to find out if Scott has the last laugh. Highly recommended by The Zeus and Tom Show.

If you are a lover of role-playing games, as I am, then you just definitely have got to watch "Zero Charisma". Where as the movie "Gamerz" was great, then "Zero Charisma" totally re-invents the foundation of this geeky genre.

The story is about Scott (played by Sam Eidson) who lives with his grandmother (played by Anne Gee Byrd). Scott is an avid fan of fantasy role-playing games and a metalhead, and has spent the last three years on his campaign, where he is the Game Master for his friends. When one have to drop out of the game, due to personal reasons (read, actually having a wife who wants to separate him), Scott has to find a replacement for the group. Enter Miles (played by Garrett Graham) who has it all, and Scott quickly finds himself without control of the game and his world - both real and imaginary - comes tumbling down around him.

What makes this movie great? Well it is a good comedy, especially because it is a geeky comedy. There are hilarious moments in the movie, just as there are awkward moments. The characters are well portrayed, had lots of personality (no Charisma 0 here, you gamers will get this one!), and were easy to grow attached to.

Now, from an avid role-player of Dungeons & Dragons for just about 27 years, then there were so many aspects to this movie that just strikes familiar and true to the point where it was downright scary. Us role-playing people tend to have odd routines and rituals, and oddly enough tend to listen to metal. There were so many things in the movie that could easily be painted on me or the guys I play D&D with.

"Zero Charisma" progresses at a nice pace, building up the story quite nicely. However, the ending was a bit too much in my opinion, and the movie would have fared better with a different ending. But hey, we all have different likes and dislikes.

Regardless of you being a role-player, familiar with the fantasy (or Sci-Fi) RPG games or not, then "Zero Charisma" is a great movie with lots of fun and great situations. If you enjoy geeky comedies, then you definitely need to watch this movie.

I raise my sword and roll my d10 dice, with "Zero Charisma" scoring a well-deserved 7 out of 10 star rating.

This film was more a tragedy than a comedy. It follows the trials of Scott an overweight D&D aficionado who lives utterly for and mostly in the fantasy world he has created for his fellow gamers. He has no girlfriend, prospects, true friends or social life outside his D&D set. Whenever he is faced with any challenge to his world he flies into a childlike tantrum only serving to make things worse. Because of this last I had very little pity for Scott and in most cases thought he received his just desserts.

The plot of the film doesn't really progress anywhere although Sam Eidson's portrayal of Scott was superb. The film revolves utterly around Scott so the poor performances of the remaining cast go unnoticed.

This film is not a "Comedy." I did not laugh once. Considering the sad and depressing nature of Scott's life and the fact that he appears to learn no real lesson or change any facet of his character by the film's conclusion it can only be seen as a tragedy. And a poor one at that.

This was a really funny little film, and one that you should definitely see if you like tabletop games or nerd culture in general. The characters of this film are perfect representations of the kind of people you meet if you are into this scene.

Sam Eidson is completely spot on as the overweight fantasy loving neckbearded manchild Scott and is a perfect caricature of the overbearing control freak Gamemasters that I have met many times. Watching him alienate everyone around him is painful to watch but at the same time hilarious

A very funny film, and one that actually manages to captures how socially stunted and unbearable these people can be.

Whether you've grown up with table top role playing games (RPGs), or have only looked upon it with the eyes of an outsider (including those of you who've only played computerized RPGs), I think you'll find this movie very entertaining. The humor and pathos of ZERO CHARISMA are presented with loving and honest insight, so that even if your impulse is to laugh at the "pathetic losers", you will be hard pressed to not also find some resonance of the characters' actions and feelings in your own life.

The respectful and subtle presentation of the character motivations and interactions is more akin to the geek/nerd trope presented in RUSHMORE or (the very excellent) WHITEBOYS, and not at all like the outsider's take in NAPOLEON DYNAMITE (though if you're a fan of that film, you'll find equally ridiculous behaviors and situations to guffaw over in this movie...they're just a little more layered).

There's no need to go into the story in any depth, as the logline of this film is all you need to know going in. It's a good movie, although I may only think it's a 10 because I've played D&D for thirty years...and I recognize that this movie is celebrating that at the same time that it shines a light on the negative aspects of giving up Real Life for a fantasy world that we can control.