Are we better off letting existing power structures be? This is the thesis of the Revenge of the Nerds style comedy The Outcasts, which has a little fun, plays a little cute, and lets you a little down.
Jodi (Eden Sher, a name that sounds like a vocab word lost in the Victorian era) and Mindy (Victoria Justice, the woman who brought “edensher” back to Webster’s in the 21st century) are nerds. Well, they’re movie nerds, not real nerds, of course. The difference is movie nerds are quick to sport symbols of their nerdery to compensate for the obvious ways in which they aren’t real nerds, like bad skin or spectrum behavior. Being senior nerds, these two are tired of being picked on and just want a bitchin’ final high school year.
This is the set-up part – the bolder of the two, Jodi, confronts the head Mean Girl on her own turf. Jodi is rewarded for her effort; the pair is invited to a high school keg party. They bring a fern (“never come to an invitation empty handed”). It takes five seconds for some future frat asshole to pee on the fern. OK. Then at story time –cuz that’s a thing during a high school keg party, right?—the head Mean Girl plays a video completely embarrassing Mindy. This is where stories generally lose me. It’s not just that somebody would do something so cruel, it’s that the fallout is 100% incorrect. If you saw a random non-friend popular person do something incredibly mean and unwarranted to a random non-friend unpopular person –no matter what you previously thought of each person initially- your sympathies would almost certainly change (at least a small amount) for both parties.
This is a movie, so, of course, the unpopular girls are suddenly more unpopular than ever … and they hit upon a new plan: nerds unite! Now, I LOVE that this films distinguished nerds. You know that saying “great minds think alike?” It’s bullshit. Nothing could be further from the truth. Check your bell curve. Great minds are unique. That’s exactly why nerds have no power – precisely because they do not think alike. Common minds think alike. And thus, the thing the sci-fi nerds share most in common with the fantasy nerds is lack of popularity. But there is strength in numbers if you guys can bury your collective+3 Battle Axe.
Are there more nerds than cool kids and their wannabe entourage? Not in the slightest – but The Outcasts is already part fantasy, so I’m willing to give it space. There’s a lot cynicism in this film, oft played for comic effect, but I’m betting most nerdy teens would see the “strength in numbers” argument and not press so hard for personal 
enrichment to assist the unification process.
While I can certainly appreciate our leads and “Richard Milhouse Nixon High School,” The Outcasts plays a lot like a poor man’s Booksmart. The film is only clever in small doses and for all the imagination of the collective, no individual performance or character stands out … at all. Compare that with Revenge of the Nerds where you can still name half the (Out) cast.
The Outcasts has some moments, sure, and –of course- it is always easy (for me) to root for the socially maladjusted; what is life if not a way for us all to find common ground? However, the movie comes to the fairly dubious conclusion that everyone in power behaves the same way, and -thus- perhaps we are better off sticking to the folks who are used to it. I’m not a fan of either of these theses. Yeah, I’ll believe power is always abused for personal gain around the time the Supreme Court turns blue. The film feels like a cop out. .. like a student paper on George Floyd describing the horrors of his death but ending with a paragraph of: “horrible as this tragedy may be, it is better that the power to give and take lives remain in the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department.” Boo.
More intrigued than cautious the maladjusted appeared
With pockets well protected, they warily neared
Now Geeky, now Dweeby! Now Spazzy and Dorky!
On Freaky! On Doofy! On Nerdy and Porky!
“To the top of the school, our collective will rise
And bid our lowly status all mocking goodbyes”
Rated PG-13, 95 Minutes
Director: Peter Hutchings
Writer: Dominique Ferrari, Suzanne Wrubel
Genre: Nerds!
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Nerds?
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Non-Nerds
Parody Inspired by A Visit from Saint Nicholas
