Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation (1992)

The nerds have taken the college, but some jocks are not going to allow this anymore.

Director:

Roland Mesa

Writers:

Tim Metcalfe (characters), Miguel Tejada-Flores (characters)

Stars:

Robert Carradine, Ted McGinley, Curtis Armstrong

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Carradine	...	Lewis 'Lew' Skolnick
Ted McGinley	...	Dean Stanley Gable
Curtis Armstrong	...	Dudley 'Booger' Dawson, Esq.
Julia Montgomery	...	Betty Skolnick
Gregg Binkley	...	Harold Skolnick
Richard Israel	...	Ira Poppus
Morton Downey Jr.	...	University President Orrin Price
John Pinette	...	Trevor Gulf
Grant Heslov	...	Mason
Henry Cho	...	Steve Toyota
Mark Clayman	...	Bobo Peterson
Chi McBride	...	Malcolm Pennington III (as Chi)
K.T. Vogt	...	Edith Krug
Tim Conlon	...	Adam Price
Laurel Moglen	...	Judy

Storyline

The third movie in the Nerds series: The nerds are now in control of the university, as a result of Lewis Skolnick and the rest's actions in the two previous movies. A new generation of sportsmen arrive, however, determined on winning the school back. The principle, himself an ex-nerd fighter, helps them, and the nerds return to suppression. Harold Skolnick needs help from his uncle Lewis, the hero of the first two movies. Lewis, however, are not too proud of his nerd past, and won't reveal any of it, much less help his nephew. However, his wife makes him change his mind, and with help from his friends from the first two movies, they start the fight to win the school back, using classic nerd tricks.

---

Plot Keywords:

female stockinged legs | suntan pantyhose | pantyhose | third part | teensploitation | 

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

Certificate:

TV-14

Did You Know?

Trivia

The water guns Booger and the girls use while staying at the Skolnick house are Laramie's Super Soakers. Booger uses the 50 model (lime green), while the girls use the 100 model (large and blue) and the 30 model (small and orange.)

---

Goofs

Lewis' car has a California license plate, but earlier films in the series implied that Adams College was in Arizona.

---

Quotes

Harold Skolnick: Are you Japanese?
Steve Toyota: [Using "Elvis Presley" style of speach throughout movie] Heck, naw, boy. I'm Korean.
Harold Skolnick: Why do you talk like that?
Steve Toyota: South Korean.

---

Connections

Follows Revenge of the Nerds (1984)

User Reviews

Too mild, too unnecessary, and too predictable

I don't know what compelling reason there was to make this movie in the first place. If it was trying to cash in on the success of the 1984 original (and the 1987 sequel, to a lesser extent), Fox would have put it in theatres. Then again, maybe that was the original idea. This wouldn't be the first film to simply go direct to TV and video when they studio decided not to waste time with a theatrical release.

The movie itself just isn't very funny. It's a rehash of the events in the first movie, but doesn't have the raunchy edge of that film, nor does it have the peculiar but undeniable heart that actually gave the original some emotional punch. Comparing the scene at the pep rally there and the finale here in court is kind of comparing a small diamond to a big piece of broken glass.

The new nerds also aren't very interesting, and Gregg Binkley tries hard but doesn't have the weird watchable quality that Robert Carradine does. If you'll look closely the credits list "Chi" in the cast; that's Chi McBride, playing Malcolm Pennington III, and giving almost no indication that he'd emerge as a terrific actor (and certainly none that he'd be the breakthrough star on BOSTON PUBLIC, playing Steven Harper).

One thing that sort of caught my attention was the way the nerds here kept making implicit references to other minority groups. When Lewis refuses to help his cousin and other persecuted nerds, he's labeled "a self-hating nerd." Another character says they need "as many nerds in power as they can get." And when a character admits at the film's end that he's a secret nerd, he says "It feels great to come out of the closet!" The point seems to be that being a nerd is like being black, gay, Jewish, female, from another country, what have you. It's a strange point.

The film has another actor play Gilbert near the end, as Anthony Edwards followed up on his very brief role in the 2nd movie by not appearing here at all. He didn't appear in part 4 either, and III came out a few years before he broke through on ER. Didn't like seeing someone else play his role, but it fit this misshapen, boring film.

There is one great line here. When Lewis and wife Betty ask the local college DJ to broadcast in the name of nerd freedom, the DJ stands up and says, "There's no greater friend to the nerd, than the American DJ. If we weren't all nerds ourselves, we'd all be on television." It's such a good line that it overlooks that most college radio stations have so little listening range that the DJ might be the only person who gets the message.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 July 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation

Filming Locations:

357 S. Lorraine Blvd., Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Zacharias-Buhai Productions, FNM Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1