The internet is a fickle place. Popularity trends can rapidly change online as audiences tastes transition into the need for fresh palettes. A meme becomes yesterdays news and universally detested by anyone who has had to bear through the umpteenth recycled picture of it played off like it is original humor. A gif is shared religiously before disappearing, re-emerging and being pronounced “retro”. A YouTube show hammers one idea into your skull until you reach the point of boredom at its never changing content. Ideas become stale. However, There is always exceptions. Certain individuals form long lasting careers online by virtue of their personality. None more prominent in my estimation than the Angry Video Game Nerd — James Rolfe. A testament to James Rolfe comes from the longevity of his tenure on the internet and continued popularity. James is an original pioneer of internet reviewing. One of the first major internet personalities to emerge on YouTube. His character of the Nerd captured an idea of bitterness and rage while maintaining a firm love for gaming behind the anger. The fact that the character has lasted as long as it has is precisely down to the humble nature of the man himself. People love sincerity. James makes no grand parade about his success, he merely states that he is just a guy who loves video games and making videos. 
From those videos coupled with his background in film making at a young age comes the Angry Video Game Nerd movie. A logical step in the progression of any character; but also an incredibly risky one. It is a tall order to make a two hour length film for a concept that was originally introduced in bite size seven minute videos on YouTube. Thankfully this one works surprisingly well. This crowd funded film revolves around our titular nerd character played by James Rolfe as he is unwittingly dragged on a quest to review the worst game ever made. The game in question? Eee Tee for The Atari 2600. An obvious name change made for copyright sake. The driving force of the AVGN film comes from a sleazy games company called Cockburn Industries Incorporated. One such executive of Cockburn named Mandi (Sarah Glendening) brings forth a fantastic idea to make a sequel to the awful EeeTee with the sole intention of marketing it towards people who like bad games. The narrative’s implication here being that The Nerd has become so popular playing bad games online that everybody wants to try them out for themselves. 
Best friend of the nerd, Cooper (Jeremy Suarex) is adamant that the Nerd must play the original Eee Tee despite his many understandable objections. Mandi approaches Copper and The Nerd and instigates a trip funded by Cockburn industries to find the infamous landfill where all copies of the game EeeTee were buried. The goal in mind being to play the original and then the sequel, recording the whole adventure along the way. This plot may sound simplistic, but lunacy is around every single turn. I will not offer spoilers in regards to it in this review. Alternatively, I can tell you that a true lover of film was given free reign to write his dream screenplay that pays homage to all of his favorite genres. This is largely a screwball comedy on the surface, yet there is glimmers of science fiction and horror in the mix too. A genuinely quirky story opens the first act building upon itself to levels of pure insanity by the end. Its really an ideal formula for a comedy helped greatly by its solid cast. Memorable players include Stephen Mendel and Helena Barett, who prove to be scene-stealers as the hilarious military General and Sergeant duo. Additionally, We have our three leads playing off each other nicely as well, Albeit with some unfortunate lack of character progression for Mandi and Cooper. The Nerd himself goes through a conclusive character journey that leads to slapstick scenes garnering the biggest laughs from me overall. Mandi and Cooper are somewhat relegated during the third act to filler. Both seem to accomplish nothing and aren’t partaking in scenes that seem to go anywhere. A resolution is given in the final act that but was not foreshadowed or built upon in any way. 
Mandi to start off with is developed as a scheming character. This aspect of her character is dropped at the half way mark. Cooper is made out to be a wannabe AVGN who has his own show that no one watches. This is brought up in one scene and never shown again.These are irritations in my mind, because they had two very simply characters arcs to go through. Mandi schemes. Her plan works. She realizes the error of her ways and tries to help her friends. Cooper doesn’t think highly of himself. He realizes that he doesn’t need to be an AVGN clone and finds his own voice to excel with by the end of the film; Perhaps leading to internet fame all on his own. Granted, I will say this may be more of a personal choice on my part rather than a fault in the film. I feel more could have been done with the characters. This being said, The movie is called the Angry Video Game Nerd and he is rightfully the primary focus. James isn’t an especially great actor by any means, but he plays the Nerd character that he has crafted to a tee. His facial expressions are on point for the comedic situations that he gets himself involved in. 
Most of the comedy can be accredited to visual gags. The sizable budget of the film lends a keen polish of rather awesome looking computer graphics that reach beyond typical YouTube video standard. It matches the levels of quality reminiscent of the likes of Freddy Wong. One of the strongest elements comes from its unique variety of SFX used. The aforementioned computer graphics are featured side by side with a smattering of practical effects. It is a tough blend to pull off well. It works exceptionally here due to the wacky nature intended for the film. The practical effects often times seem to intentionally made look goofy for comedic effect. Successfully done in my view as It had me laughing from start to finish. In summary, the best compliment I can give the
AVGN movie is that I was never bored. This is a full length two hour movie. If I was the editor, I would only shave off about ten minutes. The AVGN film is thoroughly entertaining. It is epic in scale. It’s littered with familiar internet cameos. It has some charming visual effects and an ear pleasing soundtrack for video game fans. The flaws I mentioned in character development are outweighed by the number of positives I can conjure up in regards to funny individual performances. Watch with a friend preferably.
If you know and enjoy the style of humour from the YouTube show; then you are well at home here. 8.5/10
