Zero Charisma (2013)

disgusting, overrated, pointless

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

I watched this film without having read any reviews or knowing exactly what to expect, or even really what it was about. I have to say, it took me 2 sittings to get through from start to finish and really, I didn't enjoy this film at all.The film is very slow paced, a bit sluggish and the story line just isn't obvious until the very end. For a comedy, I think I remember maybe one scene where I briefly cracked a smile, so I'm not sure it should be classed as as comedy.The moral behind the story is the probably the best thing about this film, although there isn't a great deal else for it to compete with for that title. A good insight I suppose into what life as "nerd" is like, but I'd not recommend it as a film to watch - Unless you're struggling to fall asleep. It certainly helped me with that.

This movie was incredibly disappointing, as it had plenty of potential but lacked any payoff or real redemption. First of all Scott's drug addict mother who abandoned her son comes back to humiliate him in front of his friends in the most crass and juvenile way imaginable. That is just pathetic and was hard to watch. Second, Scott's grandmother just agrees to sell her home to pay her useless daughter's debts and move into a nursing home? I mean seriously, no grandparent would agree to this. Finally Scott winds up playing RPGs with the elderly at the end? Just about anyone could have written a better script. WTF did I just watch?

Frankly as a nerd i'm quite offended by this ridiculously predictable portrayal of a nerds life, it has just about every boring cliché that has become overused by years of declining media values such as geeks and nerds are fat, socially awkward, angry and in need of every bodies pity, whilst in most cases this may be true, it was unnecessary to throw it in the viewers face at every turn. I would absolutely NOT recommend this insulting pile of garbage to anyone other than maybe a schoolyard bully wanting to laugh at all the childish jokes that have ever been thought up to hurt nerds and geeks. I watched this movie because i was highly bored and the tag-line stood out, it failed to even alleviate the boredom slightly.

Whether you've grown up with table top role playing games (RPGs), or have only looked upon it with the eyes of an outsider (including those of you who've only played computerized RPGs), I think you'll find this movie very entertaining. The humor and pathos of ZERO CHARISMA are presented with loving and honest insight, so that even if your impulse is to laugh at the "pathetic losers", you will be hard pressed to not also find some resonance of the characters' actions and feelings in your own life.The respectful and subtle presentation of the character motivations and interactions is more akin to the geek/nerd trope presented in RUSHMORE or (the very excellent) WHITEBOYS, and not at all like the outsider's take in NAPOLEON DYNAMITE (though if you're a fan of that film, you'll find equally ridiculous behaviors and situations to guffaw over in this movie...they're just a little more layered).There's no need to go into the story in any depth, as the logline of this film is all you need to know going in. It's a good movie, although I may only think it's a 10 because I've played D&D for thirty years...and I recognize that this movie is celebrating that at the same time that it shines a light on the negative aspects of giving up Real Life for a fantasy world that we can control.