Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation (1992 TV Movie) User Reviews

Nerds 3

[OldTimerJk · 4/10 · 2 September 2008]

Overall the movie is not that great. I did however really enjoy the story of Lewis, Betty and Stan. In the 3rd movie we see where the relationship of Lewis and Betty went. We also see how Stan Gabel turned out and how the events of the first movie effected him. However the movie is also filled with new characters and lame scenes. I really think had they focused more on the original nerds story the movie would have turned out a lot better. I do recommend the movie for a "Nerd" fan, but if your not a real big fan of the first film then you should pass this one by.

I feel this film is a better sequel to the first rather then a 3rd movie.

My brief review of the film

[sol- · 4/10 · 18 June 2005]

With the likable characters from the first two films all grown up, they are given far smaller supporting roles here, as we are introduced to a new range of characters, most of which are sadly are underdeveloped and lack the charm of the original nerds. In spite of this, the usual silliness, predictability, and fades to black that carry on far too long, the film is still moderately entertaining, and there are quite a few songs that are amusing to listen to. It is not a very well made film, but it is engaging enough to keep one watching for the running time, even if it is far off the level of the first two entries in the series.

Actually not as bad as some have lead it to be

[Smells_Like_Cheese · 5/10 · 2 September 2007]

I recently bought the "atomic wedgie" edition of the Revenge of the Nerds. It has all the four movies, so I watched Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation this afternoon and once again after looking at the IMDb rating, I was a bit scared on what to expect, but so far, I'm really liking these movies. Yeah, they're a bit ridicules, not to mention that I think Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation took a different direction than the original Nerd film, but it's all good. I thought it was actually a fun story and a new introduction of all nerds uniting together and showing who really takes care of the jocks in the world.

Lewis has now turned himself into a huge stud and is living with his wife, Betty. His nephew and his nephew's friend have gone to the same college and have joined the Lamb's, but we have a new dean in town, Stan is back! He and an alumni of the school are joining together to ban all nerds from the town. The nerds call on Lewis to get back to his nerd roots and help them take over the town, hopefully Lewis can get past this silly smooth operator appearance, because it's not working for him or the nerds that need him most.

Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation is nothing special, but it still has a few laughs. I really didn't think it was bad, at least not as bad as the rating would on IMDb led me on. Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation is just a fun movie that I think people need to be open too, it's a different direction in the story but it works over all. So just give it a shot, I think you'll actually enjoy this story, after all, everyone's gotta love the nerds.

5/10

Too mild, too unnecessary, and too predictable

[BenGW1 · 15 September 2001]

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.

Nnnnoooo...Please make the bad movie go away!

[EllisDee · 2/10 · 11 October 1998]

"Revenge of the Nerds III" is nothing more than an excuse to have a reunion of the cast from the original "Revenge of the Nerds." It astounds me how moviemakers keep making inferior sequels. Haven't they learned anything by now? After being subjected to the cruel pranks of the jocks in the first movie and then some more hardship from the mediocre "Revenge of the Nerds II," the nerds have finally received the death penalty: a TV-movie sequel! And what a terrible way to die! It's one thing to make a bad sequel made for the theatre, but making a weak TV-movie sequel is a catastrophe! "Revenge of the Nerds III" wasn't funny at all, and it looks like they just barely had enough money to throw away on this movie. Here's a visual summary of all this....

############################################################# ############################################################# #######################/------------\########################## ######################!---R.I.P.-----!!######################### ######################!---------------!!####################### ######################!----THE------!!######################### ######################!---NERDS---!!######################### ######################!---------------!!######################## ######################!-1984-1992---!!######################## ######################!---------------!!######################### ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^!=*=***++++=!!^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

It sucked...'nuff said.

[ratgirl · 1/10 · 23 May 1999]

It was a warm summer night... I couldn't sleep... so I turned on TNT, and sat down to watch what was going to be one of the most torturous movies I had ever seen... Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation. I can't believe I actually stayed up until 4:00 AM watching this waste of film! The only good part about it was when it (finally!) ended! Avoid this awful piece of trash at ALL costs!!!

Not that great, but nowhere near as bad as the 3.6 rating indicates

[callanvass · 5/10 · 22 March 2014]

The nerds have taken over the university, usurping the jocks as well. Lewis Skolnick (Robert Carradine) has made a great living for himself, married to his dream girl Betty (Julia Montgomery) , with a son. The jocks refuse to stand for this, decide to bring back a former rival of Lewis's, Stanley Gable (Ted McGinley) This is the best of the sequels. I wouldn't call it a great movie by any means, but it's far better than the second movie. It provides you with some solid laughs at times, even throwing in a twist at the end. I felt the twist with Ted McGinley was illogical, but amusing. If you're going to check out any sequel in this series, let it be this one

5/10

FOX's made-for-T.V. sequels!

[Captain_Couth · 3/10 · 8 July 2004]

Revenge of the Nerds III (1992) was one of several made-for-t.v. movies that premiered on FOX. Even though this one is a slight improvement over the last movie it's still bad. I don't even know why the FOX network bothered showing this movie. Although it has a more interesting story and a return of several characters, the end results are not satisfactory. But if you're a big Revenge of the Nerds fan, you'll be in "nerd" heaven. Others stay away.

A slight improvement over the horrendous part II, Revenge of the Nerds III is a bad movie. I can't recommend something like this. Watch if you must but don't say I didn't warn you!

Not recommended.

Utter trash.

[Hac · 1/10 · 15 September 1998]

I enjoyed the first two movies, and it can be reasonably assumed that, like the "Police Academy" movies, the quality and humor would degrade over time. With "Revenge of the Nerds III", instead of being not quite as good as the other two, the quality/humor dropped like a rock. It's made-for-TV, and it shows.

Revenge of the Jocks

[MartynGryphon · 6/10 · 1 October 2023]

The first Revenge of the Nerds movie realeased in 1984 was a wonderful sleeper comedy where the nerds beat the bullying Alpha Betas at their own game and won control of the Greek council at Adams College.

The second movie released in 1987 was not as good nor as funny as we saw the nerds continuing their battle against the alphas on a national level at the national fraternity convention at Fort Lauderdale in Florida.

The remaining ROTN movies were low budget TV affairs, and the decline in quality continued, but at least this third movie attempted to be the rightful successor to the original movie with the return to Adams College as well as the return of some of the original antagonists.

It is now 1992, eight years after the events of the original movie. Chief nerd Lewis Skolnick is now head of the Computer Science department at Adams and is now married to Betty, the sorority cheerleader whom he had sexually assaulted in the first movie and cheated on in the second.

Whilst Lewis and Betty's fortunes had improved over the last eight years, the fortunes of Head bully Alpha Beta Stan Gable had certainly declined. He is now a run down motorcycle cop with the Highway Patrol. He's still entrenched in his hatred of nerds and saddened by the fact that nerds have now taken over every facet of life at Adams College having seemingly learned nothing from his past experiences.

A new generation of nerds arrive at Adams including Lewis' nephew Harold and his best friend, drawn to the college not just through familial ties, but because of Adams nerd friendly atmosphere.

Also arriving on campus is Orrin Prince an old Adams alum and former Alpha Beta who has now enrolled his son Adam into the college. They are both appalled at what he sees and the decline of Alpha dominance.

Prince finds a natural ally in Stan Gable whom he meets at rush week. Prince is not without influence as he is President of the college and uses that influence to install Stan as the new Dean of Students so he can usher in a new era of Alpha dominance and introduce a new reign of anti nerd policies using the remaining Alpha Betas as his boots on the ground.

To deflect from his true intentions, Stan feigns a friendship with Lewis with also the ulterior motive to try to win Betty, his ex girlfriend, back again.

Prince uses the Alpha Betas to plant drugs in the Lamda, Lambda, Lambda house and all the tri-lambs get arrested. It is an action that Stan is not made aware of beforehand and even he thinks that this is a step too far, but despite his misgivings he remains silent.

In protest at the arrest, Lewis leads a workers strike all over the Adams campus and the tri-lambs call in an another Lamda alumni to defend them in court, none other than original Adams College nerd Dudley 'Booger' Dawson who is now a shyster lawyer.

The strike sees a complete shut down at Adams college with the gas stations, phones and electricity all being cut off. This makes Stan the laughing stock of the community. Prince has one last ace up his sleeve. He has been misappropriating college funds and unbeknownst to Stan, he has been having Lewis sign papers that incriminate him for the crimes.

This leads Stan for the first time to have genuine concerns that these allegations could completely ruin Lewis' entire life and that the nerd persecution has long since moved on from being simply college hijinks and has now become something a lot more malicious and sinister.

Lewis is arrested and put on trial and Stan is called as a witness, but when he sees all of the old original nerds arrive in the courtroom to give Lewis their support, he has his epiphany that his old enemies were never enemies at all and his 'friends' have been his real enemies his whole life. He makes an unprecedented statement to the court declaring Lewis innocent of all charges as well as the tri-lambs being innocent of the drugs charges.

Whilst the movie isn't brilliant, the fact that it feels more like a direct sequel to the first movie than the second movie did goes in its favour and therefore, I will happily declare it my favourite of the sequels.

The new nerds and alphas are instantly forgettable and not likeable at all and it's difficult for the viewer to invest themselves in an entirely new set of characters this far into the series.

Whilst not a patch on the original it's a fun watch, but being a made for TV movie, don't expect the T&A and F bombs that had been so prevalent in the first two films. Like the Police Academy movies, this nerd saga had lapsed into family friendly territory by this point and would sadly remain so for the fourth and final film.

Enjoy!

Disappointed nerds everywhere.

[burke_electric · 3/10 · 3 March 2008]

Terrible movie. And what's with Stan claiming he graduated Adams college in '80 and Lewis claiming he graduated in '81? It just made an already bad movie that much more confusing. The original was released in 1984 and the sequel in 1987. Neither movie made reference to having taken place in the past. As a matter of fact, the technical gizmos the nerds played with were 1980s stuff. Even the clothing and decor were 1980s. I thought the first two movies were pretty good. I can even remember going to see the sequel when it came out in the summer of '87. It was on my 18th birthday. I couldn't even make it all the way through this one. I'm not even going to waste my time on part 4.

Revenge of the Nerds...a new generation.

[jclmhabig · 8/10 · 8 June 2012]

OK; I don't get all the negative reviews here. I will list what I did and did not like about this film. Being that I am a HUGE Robert Carradine fan, I was pleased as punch to see him reprise his role as Lewis Skolnick. You can replace a lot of actors in a lot of roles but not this one; Mr. Carradine owns it and nobody could ever do what he's done with this character. I also liked seeing Julia Montgomery back in her role as Betty and Curtis Armstrong as Booger. I didn't care for the "new generation" of nerds. Toyota is just a bad ripoff of Booger, I don't understand that Edith character at all and the character of Harold Skolnick seriously lacked the charm of the original nerds. I liked how Stan Gable finally came to understand who he is and to embrace himself; seems like he finally learned how to take responsibility for his own life. All in all, this was a cute movie but it did not have the charm of the original or the first sequel. My favorite part was the end when the original nerds came back to support Lewis. The actor who played Gilbert bore a striking similarity to Anthony Edwards. I would love to see another ROTN come out; perhaps with Lewis and Betty's son now at Adam's College? I would watch that most definitely!!!

Hollywood wants your money

[Maziun · 1/10 · 18 July 2013]

They will try to earn few bucks every way that is possible. Even by making a dull TV-sequel that nobody wants . People didn't really needed a second sequel , much less the third . The second at least appeared in cinemas . In my opinion it was watchable . I could live without it , but I don't suffered while watching it.

This one is a completely different story . The only positive thing is the appearance of old nerds at the end of movie. The villain is also back. Too bad the movie misses the charm and heart of original and turns it into marathon of dumb jokes . Hollywood shouldn't really make a franchise out of "Nerds " just like they shouldn't do it with "Police academy".

I'm shocked the even made one more sequel . It was as bad as this one. Thankfully the only thing I remember about this movie is it was awful. I give it 1/10.

A hilarious movies!! A film making masterpiece! Four stars!!

[steve-575 · 9 October 1999]

One of the funniest movies ever made!!! Those nerds just kill me! I couldn't stop laughing throughout the whole movie. These "Revenge of the Nerds" movies get better with each sequel. This one ranks up there with "Airplane" and "Something About Mary" among the best comedies ever made. I can't wait to rent "Revenge of the Nerds: Part 4". Hopefully it will be as good as this one. My only complaint about this movie was that Gilbert didn't really appear in this movie. He made a cameo appearance at the end but it was a different actor. Which brings to mind, one question. What was Anthony Edwards thinking when he turned down a part in this movie masterpiece? Thankfully, he didn't make the same mistake twice and later chose to do ER.

Again, what was the point of a sequel?

[Cryptfan2 · 1/10 · 2 August 2008]

Oh God... Where do I start? First off, even though I don't recommend but look at the first film and tell me there's no need for sequels and second, anything that says "The Next Generation" is bound to suck unless if done right.

What are the problems? Everything is wrong with it from the cast, to the script, to the jokes, everything. Especially the fact that it's a family friendly version of the original. That's right, Nerds I was actually Rated R which was one of the reasons why I watched the first film since I dig R Rated films.

But I hate it when studios try to make their own franchises family friendly. Remember, this was the sort of thing that killed the RoboCop and the Burton/Schumacher Batman franchises. I mean, "Heck Week"? What the hell? The only good thing about it is the uncredited cameo appearance of Clancy Brown as a gas station owner, I'll watch anything that has Clancy Brown, the dude kicks ass.

Overall, I don't recommend watching it but if you're curious about it, go ahead, you'll see how bad it is.

Without a doubt, the worst movie I've ever seen!

[chet-3 · 1/10 · 19 September 1999]

Getting my eyes gouged out with a hot poker. Open-heart surgery without anesthetic. Becoming a quadruple-amputee. What do these things have in common? They're all things I'd rather do or have done to me than watch "Revenge of the Nerds 3" again. This movie is without a doubt the most god-awful piece of crap ever released! What were any of the people involved thinking? The acting writing, direction and situations were among the most pathetic I've ever seen on TV or anywhere else. "Revenge of the Nerds 3" is what's wrong with the world today. The writer and director fully deserve to be shot. DON'T SEE IT!!!!!! If one of your friends ever wants to watch it, kill them, then kill yourself for being friends with anyone who would even consider watching this. As for me, I wasn't lucky enough to have people like me to warn them against this travesty. But you still have a chance. Stay away from this one, or may God have mercy on your soul.

Terrible

[spenrh · 1/10 · 3 February 2021]

What a dreadful embarrassment of a movie! Why do they make such horrible sequels to movies that were corny to begin with and just weren't meant to have more than 1 sequel, and have different characters from the first two!? They did the same stupid mistake with "Beethoven 3", I saw it years ago but remember how dreadful it was, how it didn't have the original characters from the first two like Charles Grodin as the dad, it had Judge Reinhold completely embarrassing himself in a role that put him to shame! How could he take such a turn for the worse after his much better earlier 80s movies of "Beverly Hills cop 1" and "2" and "Ruthless people"?

"Revenge of the nerds 3" has a whole new cast of characters doing a halfassed display of the same quirks and events that the original characters had in the first two "Nerds" movies. The original characters like Booger are in it but only had secondary roles, since the movie wasn't even about them besides them having a reunion, and not even all of them were there, and a couple of the characters that were there were played by different actors. And, the main characters who play the college nerds in this movie act in ways and give us scenes that are so painfully stupid! They copy the acts from the first movie but in such a dumbed down way, and they were nerds in the first movie to begin with! That should say enough. Like "Beethoven 1" and "2", "Revenge of the nerds 1" and "2" aren't even the types of movies I'm really into anymore, but at least they were movies I sorta enjoyed the corniness of when I was younger. "Nerds 3" was stupid, awful, and embarrassing the very first time I watched it. I didn't even watch it recently, I just sometimes think of horrible movies I've seen in the past and realize that they need another reviewer stating how terrible they were so as few people as possible will waste a couple hours of their lives watching it, like I did.

A reboot of the first film!

[skaterboy6305-1 · 1/10 · 29 October 2020]

At least we see the original actors returning. Gilbert shows up but no Anthony Edwards. This is just the exact same like the first one except it's Lewis' kid going to college.

Liked it

[Merkal-2 · 2/10 · 28 June 2000]

When I saw the annoucement for Nerds 4 I thought of Nerds 3 which I saw a week before. I laughed about Nerds 3. It was so funny, the Lewis character really did it. But as most movies it's good for a one time watch. The first part wasn't funny at all, close to boring. Then after the break the party with the food fight came. From there the movie improved but it didn't came too the level of humor in Nerds 3. Come on the nerds weren't nerds some times they where pathetic it wasn't funny anymore.

All in all it's a movie too watch if you have nothing better to do.

There's No Greater Friend To The Nerd Than The American DJ If We Weren't All Nerds Ourselves We'd Be On Television

[gnowaczek · 5/10 · 2 August 2015]

Revenge Of The Nerds Part III The Next Generation isn't one of the best entries in the hilarious franchise but it somehow manages bring a few laughs.

It was awesome to see the return of many familiar faces from the first film such as Robert Carradine, Curtis Armstrong, Brian Tochi, Julia Montgomery, Larry B. Scott, James Cromwell, Bernie Casey and Ted McGinley.

In this next chapter the nerds of past and present team up to regain control of the Adams College campus when it's taken over by the Alpha Betas led by fellow alumni Orrin Price (Morton Downey Jr.) and Stan Gable(McGinley).

When Gable is installed as the dean of students he uses his power to cause trouble for the new Tri- Lambs consisting of Harold Skolnick (Binkley), Ira, Steve Toyota (Cho) Malcolm Warner Pennington III (McBride) Trevor Gulf (Pinette) and Judy (Moglen).

In addition Lewis who hides his past is happily married to wife Betty he is concerned about being friends with the enemy

However after seeing Stan's true colors this causes Lewis to spring into action and return to his nerd self, assisting his nephew and friends in their battle of brains vs. brawn.

Surprisingly enough when Price's reign of trouble goes a step too far and Lewis gets accused of a crime he didn't commit, all of his old friends return to support him.

Seeing this causes the former jock to change his mind and stands up, admitting to being a nerd and testifies against Price leading to his arrest.

The movie ends on a happy note as the heroes celebrate victory once again.

Revenge Of The Nerds Part 3 The Next Generation does provide some great quotes and decent performances.

I'd give it a 5.2/10

It isn't brain surgery...

[malarson · 8/10 · 9 March 2000]

To put your minds at ease...this is a boiled down version of Revenge of the Nerds II, which was a boiled down version of the first movie. SO...if you enjoyed both of those a lot, you'll like this one too. If you didn't like one of those, don't bother. Watch something else.

Awful.

[CriticsVoiceVideo · 2/10 · 25 February 2021]

Just awful, but I love that they got the original cast back and the surprise twist.

excrement

[hamburgerman · 9 September 1999]

i shouldn't even be wasting my time offering my opinion on this movie. i watched it for the first time this week on cable, and it was pure crap. it's hard to believe someone got paid to write this movie. all they did was discuss scenes from the first installment, which i happen to think is one of the funniest movies of all time. don't bother with this one.

* Out Of Five

[bronsonskull72 · 2/10 · 29 March 2006]

This time a new generation of nerds face off against the Dean (Ted McGinley) and go to get help from Poindexter (Robert Carradine) who has turned into a cool yuppie dude in this painful sequel which leaves the viewer thinking the obvious question: What were they thinking? Ted McGinley is probably the best thing about the movie as he delivers a performance that at least has some comic energy, Robert Carradine acts through this movie as if he was his brother David Carradine on Kung Fu, which is to say this is quite painful to watch. It doesn't help that this is made for TV so the antics are all watered down and why Anthony Edwards is nowhere to be found. Even most of the nerds from #1 and # 2 are nowhere to be found until the very end. This is the worst sequel of the bunch. After this, the series almost had to get better.

Truly Awful

[j-a-ireland-1 · 1/10 · 11 February 2012]

One of the worst movies I've ever seen.

While the original ROTN wasn't exactly a comedy classic, it did move along briskly, had some funny tongue in cheek performances, some funny sight gags, the musical numbers as well as some gratuitous nudity; you know ... it was good for a few laughs.

This mess however, ROTNiii, has no redeeming qualities and seems to have been written, and directed by complete amateurs. I hope they paid the original ROTN actors well for their walk-ons, 'cause appearing on this wretched (and, unbelievably, given how bad ROTNiii is, not the last) entry in the franchise could not have helped anyone's career in movies or TV.

P-U. A stinker. To be avoided.