For those not versed in the parlance of Dungeons & Dragons, “charisma” is one of the attributes players can tweak when creating their characters for the game. The more points one puts into charisma, the more appealing that character’s personality. God neglected that quality in the creation of Scott (Sam Eidson), a man who seems to embody every negative image of the geekily-inclined, to the point of being nigh on an avatar of The Nerd. Scott lives with his grandmother (the enjoyably if clichedly caustic Anne Byrd), works a terrible job as a delivery boy for a donut/taco joint*, and spends every minute of his spare time fine-tuning his homebrewed tabletop RPG. He lives for weekly get-togethers with his few friends, where they play his game. In these gatherings, over cheap sodas and snacks, Scott’s authority as the Game Master (the guy who guides the adventure and tells players what dice numbers they have to roll) is the sole source of empowerment in his life.
That changes when a newbie joins the group. Miles (Garrett Graham) enjoys things like Star Wars and D&D, but he’s also good-looking, has a plumb job running a pop culture website, has a lovely live-in girlfriend, and is generally well-adjusted. The other roleplayers instantly take a liking to Miles over Scott, which is understandable, since Miles is genial and supportive while Scott is abrasive and tyrannical. Compounding Scott’s spiraling loss of control is the return of his long-absent mother, who’s scheming to take the house from his grandmother so she can sell it.
Over the course of Zero Charisma, Scott runs through a practical laundry list of nerd stereotypes, from playing with his miniatures like he’s a child with action figures, to insisting, with oblivious sincerity, that the idea for The Matrix was stolen from him. All that’s missing is a scene of him participating in a fervent Internet forum debate over some trivial matter. But this isn’t Big Bang Theory-type mockery. The eye on Scott is kindly to a fault. The movie is trying to pull off a tricky balance between keeping him sympathetic while at the same time making no bones about how unlikeable, or sometimes downright terrible, he can be.
Eidson’s performance goes a long way towards selling this. He’s mastered the sulky physicality and petulant mannerisms of the modern manchild. With his wardrobe of heavy metal apparel and terrible hair, Scott looks plucked straight out of the leerier parts of a fan convention crowd. But Eidson injects him with a vulnerability that invites some empathy. It’s clear that his obsessiveness is born from the total lack of stability in his home life, and that he derives something like real happiness from how role-playing indulges his imagination. This genuineness stands in contrast to Miles, who is a Fake Geek Boy, only playing the game out of some nostalgic curiosity.
At least, that seems to be what the film is saying. The problem is that Miles, to me at least, comes across way more sympathetically than the filmmakers may have intended. When Scott accuses Miles of only hanging out with the group out of some sense of ironic fascination, it plays as just one more step Scott takes into the deep end. But apparently the audience is supposed to be somewhat on Scott’s side, since Miles later throws a party without any of his nerdy acquaintances. It was only in retrospect that I realized that Miles’s beard and thick glasses were in fact supposed to be clear markers that he is a “hipster.” But if he’s a Fake Geek Boy, then why did he suss out that the Millennium Falcon is faster than the Enterprise on his own time? That seems pretty genuinely nerdy.
Zero Charisma may not have the Big Bang Theory problem of ironic detachment from nerd-dom, but it slides into the opposite side of the spectrum, indulging too much in a fanboy mindset. There’s an ugly sentiment in online circles that there is some kind of claim to be made on the “Real Nerd” label. It’s born of the mainstream sucking up the traditionally geeky entertainments, a division between the normals who like superhero movies and the true believers, the ones who have made it their business to know all the superheroes’ full histories. The appreciates who have only recently come on board aren’t “real” fans. This is how some nerds choose to maintain their identities, and it’s grossly unhealthy. It’s what Scott is doing in this movie, but since Miles is in fact only jumping on a trendy train, what do we take away from Scott’s assholery toward him?
Maybe this aspect of the film bugs me because I consider myself a nerd or geek or whatever, but I also identified with Miles far more than I did with Scott. I have a deep, often silly devotion to movies and comics and such, but I also, all things considered, have things put together life-wise. I suspect that viewers who see more of themselves in Scott will find the movie a better experience. But the fact that it’s so even-handed with Scott while ultimately dismissive of Miles feels like a cheat. What if Miles had represented the healthier face of geekery, instead of being presented as “fake?”
None of this is helped by the fact that the film falls into the Sudden Post-Climax Turnabout Resolution Trap. After a whole movie’s worth of journeying further and further into sourness, Scott finally realizes he’s gone too far. Transition to the next scene, the last in the film, and he’s pretty fine. The film doesn’t go so far as to suggest that all his issues are done with, but he’s improved himself with no explanation or exploration of how he’s done so. Epiphanies are great, but I wish more movies would deal with how people put such epiphanies into action. That’s the key to a good character arc, and that’s what could have helped Zero Charisma towards something that felt more authentic. As it is, too much of the film feels like wallowing in unpleasantness.
Grade: C
*By the way? A real thing. Austin, man.
One thought on “Review: ‘Zero Charisma’ Fails Its Saving Throw”
Yeah I have to agree I found myself cringing at Scott but relating more to Miles. I also thought the last 5 minutes was weird as shit, with Scott getting a new job and His friend Wayne? Being cool with having such a douchey best friend.