Nerdland

I watched this on Netflix, not noticing it was movie-length. I thought it was just the first episode of a TV series. In that context, it was quite enjoyable and I looked forward to seeing the next episode. I put it in a similar space as Beavis & Butthead, Archer, Aqua Teen Hunger Force; stuff like this. People might be annoyed if they have framed it as "a movie" before watching it. That's the impression I get from the unfavourable reviews at Rotten Tomatoes.

Rather messy and not very funny. Feels like it should either be a series of 5 minute shorts or expanded to 12 episode series of 30 minute episodes. Rather juvenile humor. Looks okay but cheap at times, honestly thought it was made in the mid 2000s. Clunky in general.

I've no idea why this movie has such a low score (about 5/10 at the time of writing.) It's basically a pretty entertaining (if somewhat dark) joke at the expense of modern celebrity culture. It certainly isn't overly profound or thought-provoking, we all know that there are a bunch of vacuous, TV-obsessed 20-somethings out there who constantly have their heads buried in their phones. But it doesn't deserve to be panned either. The plot follows a couple of best friends as they trudge around L.A in a misguided attempt to achieve fame and infamy. The art style reminds me of Mission Hill, another seriously under-appreciated animation, which is also extremely bright and colourful. However, unlike Mission Hill, Nerdland opts for a much less innocent tone. Without dropping spoilers, it has a very Beavis & Butthead vibe to its comedic stylings, with lots of violence, filth and a generally grim subject matter. If you have a dark sense of humour and enjoy something that oozes pop-culture references, give this movie a shot. You can certainly do much worse.