Hilarious but hard to watch.
I understand what the filmmakers were trying to do, but the lack of any likable characters is going to doom this one.
shareYou think? The movie is called "zero charisma".
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MovieChat Forums > Zero Charisma (2013) Discussion > Hilarious but hard to watch.
Likable? I think you will find a lot of old-school nerds identifying with one or two characters in this film. And there are a lot of us.
shareSeriously. I love the star of this movie.
"I said no camels, that's five camels, can't you count?"
Yeah, he did a great job, but he's just hard to identify with. Yeah, there's a lot of geeks with similar interests, that's not what I mean. The character is just so patholgical, and narcissistic, and just such a raging douchebag, it's hard to be sympathetic to him.
It's kind of a fine line, because unlike similar characters such as "Gordie" in "Observe and Report" and Frank from "Super", this character wasn't so much suffering from mental disorders as he was personality disorders, so he has too be unlikebale to an extent; but it just doesn't quite work if you don't feel anything for him at all.
I pity you. You just don't get it at all. There's not a thing I don't cherish!.
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I dug it also, I actually watched it twice. One thing I really saw the second time, is how Scott actually is quite smart and creative. He could probably be as succesful as his hipster nemesis, if he wasn't the social equivalent of a pedophillic meter maid. I guess that goes back to the title.
I pity you. You just don't get it at all. There's not a thing I don't cherish!.
I also didn't like the main character. But I think the main premise of this movie is that Scott is for some reason not mature enough to be likeable. The reason behind this might be his mother abondoning him in early years of his life, him escaping to the fantasy worlds of RPGs and developing his own fantasy game in wich he was the "ultragod" (I say "ultragod" because game masters are the ones that can cotrol every aspect of a game, including behavior of gods). He's developed socialy almost the same as a 10 year old boy: he takes his games too seriously, he gets jelous of a newcomer, he gets mad when things don't go exactly his way, he's in non-stop conflict with his parents. Only at the end of the movie, when we see Scott working in the retiremant house, he is transforming, maturing. Very slowly but these kind of changes just don't happen over night.
I have mixed feelings about this movie. I play RPGs for over 15 years now. Me and my friends get together every saturday and play. And we are not a bunch of lifeless nerds or geeks. Our wives and girlfriends also play with us. So the fact that the main character is an immature, red bull chugging, living with his grandmother nerd is a little offensive. It just reinforces the very sad and hurtfull stereotype. And I hate that.
On the other hand, it's a movie about growing up AFTER you grow up. It's about people that can't let go of their childhood. People that are too self absorbed to notice that life is passing around them. And that even being that person it's never too late to try and change. So it's not too bad of a movie when you see it that way. Pitty though that RPGs got mixed up in this tale of a man-child.
"So the fact that the main character is an immature, red bull chugging, living with his grandmother nerd is a little offensive. It just reinforces the very sad and hurtfull stereotype. And I hate that. "
There really are a lot of guys like that, though. The words 'nerd' and 'geek' have lost their real meaning these days since Sci-Fi and Fantasy and playing games have suddenly become cool and even hot babes call themselves 'nerds' and 'geeks' just because they watch anime, but these guys are true 'nerds'. Being a 'nerd' or a 'geek' meant that you were an outcast and weren't invited to parties and you sure as hell didn't have a girlfriend. Most guys like that use RPG's and fantasy movies to escape Reality, hence the association of Sci-Fi and Fantasy with geeks and nerds. The Miles character represents the new breed of 'geek' that calls himself that just because he likes Sci-Fi movies and played D&D when he was a kid, but he's not a 'geek' because he's got friends and a hot girlfriend. That's what pisses Scott off so much. Scott, though exaggerated for effect, is still a pretty true representation of a real nerd, as are his friends. I've known guys like those characters.
Sure there are people like Scott. Sure there are guys with no other social life other than RPGs, comics or movies. I'm not saying there aren't. What I meant was that these kind of people are not the only ones involved with RPGs. In fact, I don't even think they are the majority. Most of us "geeks" are normal people with normal lives enjoing a game of Warhammer ones a week. And this movie doesn't help to show that "normal" people can also be fanboys. As I said, it's a hurfull stereotype.
BTW, I play table top RPGs. I love video games. My favorite authors are P. K. Dick and O. S. Card. I'm a comic book, manga and anime fan. I am a fan of Star Trek series. By most definitions I'm a geek. But I do have social life, I don't live in my parents basemant and I am in a comited relationship. I'm nothing like the Scott character but also nothing like Miles. And most of my "nerdy" friends are like that (some to a more extent, some to a less).
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