This animated feature starring Patton Oswalt, Paul Rudd, Garfunkel & Oates and a plethora of [Adult Swim] standbys via production company Titmouse (The Venture Brothers) should’ve been funny, it had everything going for it. Then again, The Star Wars Holiday Special was written by television’s A-list for variety shows and we all know how that turned out.
Nerdland‘s premise about the misadventures of Elliot and John, two guys trying to break into Hollywood by any means necessary since they’re both 30 now. They ponder getting famous, then getting infamous and eventually it happens by accident. The only good side effect is it finally gets them the romantic attentions of two clothing-store employees they’ve been bugging for a while.
It could’ve been funny but it just plods along which is a shame. Allegedly, this script had been worked on and shopped around for 15 years. You’d think it would’ve been perfected. Maybe it suffers from too much re-writing and adjusting. Patton is usually good for a chuckle or two with his deliveries. I failed summon up anything. Nerdland just felt like an [Adult Swim] pilot dragged out for 90 minutes.
Should this show up on Netflix or be shown ad naseum through Comedy Central or (unlikely) [Adult Swim]…you might want to check it out, maybe it will have a redeemable moment or two. Otherwise, skip it.
There was one bright spot. Before the movie started, the theater showed the movie’s Q&A from some festival. They had Blaine Capatch as the MC while he asked questions of Patton Oswalt, Brendon Small, Kate Micucci, the director and the writer. This was funny, especially Blaine’s goofy references as he introduced them.