Gamerz

I thought I knew what this movie was when I signed up for the weekly wander to the cinema. However, what I got for my money wasn’t a movie about filthy larpers. It was, in fact, a gathering of extremely enthusiastic, bordering on slightly messed up, roleplayers; and, but for a few minor grievances, I found it to be very enjoyable.

The plot is simple enough. Guy starts uni, discovers roleplay group. Guy takes over roleplay group. Guy and new roleplay group conquer the world. Okay, the last bit’s made up. Instead they move from venue to venue and eventually go postal on each other’s asses. You have the guy, Ralph, with his handwritten rules and traveller’s cloak; Davy, the whiny risk management student with a hat; Hank, the theology dropout who’s never seen without a fourpack close at hand; Marlyn, the girl who thinks she’s an Elf; and Lennie, the dope dealing ned who, until very recently, would give Ralph a daily kicking. Together, they form a bizarre little fellowship on a quest to find a venue for their game, complete with cloaks. Don’t be surprised to see New Line’s lawyers storming Glasgow Uni dressed as Uruk-Hai any day now.

At first, I thought the acting quality was absolutely appalling, until I sat down to write this review and realised that, intentionally or otherwise, Ralph and his compadres had been successfully portrayed as salivating fanboys, with varying levels of geek. This is all brought to a climax at the end once the game being played finishes and everyone goes schitzo on one another, a situation which could have been avoided had Ralph not been such a jealous little schoolboy.

A word of warning to all those scientists among our number: switch off your science receptors before going in – the writers must have just looked through academic papers and picked out the biggest words for the lectures in the movie. Other than that though, it’s not a bad wee film. Watch, and be merry.