Joysticks

It was that bad. I've occasionally rented a video that I fell asleep during and didn't bother to rewatch, or just didn't finish watching--period. But this was the only movie I ever paid admission to see that I didn't finish watching--and that's saying a lot for me. Joe Don Baker must have really needed some quick money to star in this stinker.

I love eighties movies of all kinds, yet I have been neglecting the great eighties sex comedy for a while. I decided to finally catch up on some of them, and I figured JOYSTICKS wasn't a bad place to start.

The local video arcade is the greatest hot spot in town for the teens, but it's not too popular with the richest man in town. Can the manager's grandson (who runs the place, since his grandfather is out of town), his nerdy co-worker, and the arcade's gaming champion stop him from shutting it down for good?

Even if it's not the greatest, JOYSTICKS still manages to entertain despite itself. It's your stereotypical eighties comedy, with lots of sex jokes, boobs, and all the caricatures you'd expect to find (the fat guy, the nerd, the suave guy, the punk, etc.). This kind of familiarity gives JOYSTICKS a very comfortable feeling, like homemade cooking.

Fans of eighties nostalgia will have a lot to love as well, with a classic soundtrack filled with cheesy tunes (including a title song), as well as all (or at least most of) the arcade games you can remember. The film does have its funny parts, and they're funny in the "that's-so-stupid" kind of way.

However, for every funny part, there are at least two jokes that fall flat on their face. This leads to some groan-worthy moments where you wonder why they would even put a joke like that in the film. For one, there's the rich guy's daughter, who they try to make funny by making her voice squeaky and making every third word she says, "Like." There are also the bumbling nephews who go into the arcade incognito with one of them dressed in drag.

JOYSTICKS really isn't that great, but it provides for a fun night of late twentieth century nostalgia. I'm being really generous by awarding it a 7/10, but no one can deny how fun it is.

There are obviously better eighties comedies out there, but this one will still entertain in a C.H.U.D. II: BUD THE C.H.U.D. kind of way.

The dubious honors given this film are well supported. This is, without question, among the most moronic comedies ever made. Quite interesting as a time capsule of the early 1980s, however, and a real gas for anyone who was a youngster at that time. The plot concerns a popular video arcade in danger of being closed down by nogoodnik Joe Don Baker. Who cares about that, though...

...you rented this to see boobs.

Oh, yes you did!

Singular boobs. Pairs of boobs. Clusters, caboodles, and constellations of boobs. Yes...JOYSTICKS is a veritable wall of boob, and while you're bouncing in Boobtown, you can also enjoy some of the most sophomoric humor ever offered in the long, rich history of teen sex comedies. As an extra bonus, you get a Valley Girl, and a gang of comically overaccessorized "punkers", the likes of which were commonplace as guest villains on network crime shows throughout the 80s(tri-color frightwigs, bondage gear, eyeliner to the ankles, heavy chains...yeah, you remember...).

Shamefully fun trash, if you don't mind hitting the kill-switch on your brain for 90 minutes. Wakka Wakka Wakka.

4/10.

... 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.

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