Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie

Plot

In 1983, two million copies of the Atari 2600 game E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial are dumped in a landfill near Alamogordo, New Mexico. In the present, game executive Mandi of Cockburn Industries, Inc. proposes a deliberately poor-quality sequel titled EeeTee 2, hoping a review by the Angry Video Game Nerd will drive sales. The Nerd, disheartened that fans buy the bad games he warns against, works at GameCops and must promote such games. After fans pressure him to review E.T., a game that scarred him as a child, he decides to go to Alamogordo to debunk the burial conspiracy, promising to review the game if the cartridges are found.

He is accompanied by sidekick Cooper Folly and Mandi, with the trip funded by Cockburn Industries. While filming, Cooper reveals his belief in a super-being called Death Mwauthzyx. Sergeant McButter and the legless General Dark Onward, mistaking the trio for alien hunters, try to capture them; Onward accidentally blows off his own arm with a grenade, allowing the trio to escape. They seek out E.T. creator Howard Scott Warshaw but instead find Dr. Zandor, who explains that E.T.'s level design maps Area 51.

Zandor gave the code to Warshaw to meet Atari's five-week deadline and to revenge the government's kidnapping of an alien he was freeing. The government ordered the cartridge burial, while Zandor escaped with metallic material from Area 51 to rebuild the alien's spaceship, replacing it with tin foil. Mandi is captured by McButter; the Nerd and Cooper, suspecting she is a double agent, do not rescue her.

Development and release

The movie's funding came entirely from an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, which helped boost the platform's visibility. Its premiere took place on July 21, 2014, at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, with a limited U.S. theatrical run continuing through July and August 2014. A video-on-demand release followed on September 2, 2014. The Blu-ray arrived on December 14, 2014, and the DVD on May 13, 2015.

On November 15, 2024, the film became available for digital rental or purchase on YouTube Movies, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play Movies, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home. Bear McCreary, who previously worked with James Rolfe on the web series Christmas special "How The Nerd Stole Christmas," composed the score. He blended rock-and-roll, heavy metal, a symphonic orchestra, and synthesized sounds from NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis hardware. The soundtrack album, released on the iTunes Store on September 2, 2014, includes two remixes by McCreary and two songs by his brother Brendan McCreary's band Young Beautiful in a Hurry. All music is by McCreary unless otherwise noted.

Reception

Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie received mixed reviews from critics. The Hollywood Reporter called it an overly long and self-indulgent aspiring cult film with production value slightly above home-video quality, noting that the filmmakers capably anchor disparate storylines to the central plot about crusading gamers. The Michigan Daily student newspaper gave a mostly negative review, describing the film as unfunny, poorly edited, badly paced, and too long, though it praised Bear McCreary's soundtrack as the best aspect.

The reviewer, a former fan of the web series, called the film a disappointing failure. Kevin T. Rodriguez of iCritic gave a positive review while acknowledging the film's lack of accessibility for non-fans, writing that it is uneven and could benefit from cutting about fifteen minutes, but that it mines comedy from unlikely sources and embraces silliness, and that Rolfe has mastered facial expressions for comedic effect.