DVD Review: noobz

DVD Reviews, Reviews

Is it possible to craft a film about video games (and video gamers) and somehow manage to not only be unable to have any coherent grasp of its subject matter but also to become a fourth rate sex comedy? If noobz is any consideration then it’s quite easy, actually, especially if your film somehow decides it needs to hinge on the stunt casting of Casper Van Diem on top of it all.

It’s a simple premise, an updated version of The Wizard for the first person shooter set. Cody (Blake Freeman) has the perfect life: an insanely hot wife and a good life but he can’t keep her. Why? Because he loves to play video games the point that it’s an addiction. So his friend (Jason Mewes) gives him an idea: reunite their old gaming team and head to a gaming competition. From there it’s a road trip to the competition with all sorts of wacky shenanigans, et al, but there’s one thing about the film that prevents it from being somewhat interesting.

The film has no clue about video games, video gamers, video game culture or anything resembling the modern world of the video game.

It’s the thing that’s bothersome to even a non-video game aficionado like myself: the film has no clue about the world it explores and just goes for the easy stereotype and pandering comedy. Noobz is a film made by someone who doesn’t understand the culture and doesn’t want to, instead relying on the perception of it all as opposed to actually delving into it. There’s something really intelligent that could be mined from the material; instead Blake Freeman (who did seemingly everything in the film) just relies on old stereotypes of geeks instead of doing anything new or original with the film.

It even wastes Casper Van Diem, who turns in a colorful performance as a gaming announcer type, as it outlasts its run time of slightly over 90 minutes by a wide margin.

There’s a handful of features about the film’s cast members, none of them which add anything back into the film.

Big Air presents noobz. Directed by Blake Freeman. Written by Blake Freeman, Marvin Wilson. Starring Blake Freeman, Jason Mewes, Mindy Sterling. Running time: 103 minutes. Rated R. Released: January 29, 2013. Available at Amazon.com.