Computer Chess

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Computer Chess – 4 out of 5

I literally have a list of movies that I keep and add to whenever I hear or read about a movie that interests me that has come out in the past.  For current and upcoming movies, I usually know all about them so I have no need to use this list for that reasons—although, there are times when newer films make it to this list because my desire to see them isn’t the strongest.  Very often, movies end up on the list and I eventually forget how I stumbled upon them and what about them interested me in seeing them in the first place.  Computer Chess is one of those films.  For the life of me, I can’t remember how I heard about this independent comedy but it was on “the list” so I decided to bump it to the top and give it a go.  I may not remember why I added it but I’m glad I did because it was a quirky and awkwardly fun film.

NERDS!!!  Eh, who am I kidding?  I'm a nerd too, guys.

"And King Me!"

In 1980, a group of computer programmers come together in a hotel for a weekend competition put on by chess master Pat Henderson (Gerald Peary) to see who made the best program for playing chess.  The winning program would put it skills to the test against Henderson himself.  While this tournament is going on, the collection of awkward programmers are forced to deal with a cocky young man named Michael Papageorge (Myles Paige) trying to worm his way into other people’s room because the hotel screwed up his reservation, the only female programmer; Shelly Flintic (Robin Schwartz), has to deal with the annoyance of the other men acting like her presence is an astonishing anomaly, and one shy programmer named Peter Bishton (Patrick Riester) having a series of run-ins with a swinger who is also staying in the hotel for a relationship conference.  It's utter madness the likes of which these nerds haven't seen.

We know it's fiction when there's a girl who is treated as a novelty at a
computer programmers' conference when, in reality, she would be doxxed
and tormented with threats of violence and rape.  My gender is fucking horrible.

Computer Chess is a fairly unique experience for a comedy.  Everything about it feels era accurate as the clothes, décor, facial hair, computers and even the black and white presentation and the film quality harken back to a different time.  The humor in the film is also very interesting as it’s very dry and subtle for most of the feature and slowly starts to unravel into something stranger—at points it even felt akin to Twin Peaks, if that product was a straight comedy.  Furthermore, the way it builds feels seamless and, by the time the end arrives and you’ve entered into something really strange, it sorta feels natural and expected.  

Nerds plus swingers equals awkward humor!

Where are the shoots and/or ladders?
I don't understand chess.

As far as the performances go, the film works fairly well.  Not everyone in the cast was an actor and that was because director/writer Andrew Bujalski brought in real computer experts and allowed them to improvise most of their lines of dialogue so there is a very obvious wonkiness to the performances you are seeing.  It’s obvious that these individuals aren’t professional actors but what they are delivering isn’t so bad that it destroys the final product.  Having real computer professionals does make the feature feel a little more realistic and even when the lines of dialogue aren’t given perfectly, it only adds credibility to the awkwardness of the characters and the situations.

The movie really captured the untamed sex appeal that was the 80s.

Computer Chess has a great era-appropriate feel and a sense of humor that is unique and individualized as the cast they got to play the film.  On the downside, the film doesn’t offer up a whole lot of memorable moments that make this a feature that commands attention nor does it have the pacing that makes it a product that has the replay factor for me.  These complaints are minor and do not hurt the overall entertainment of the film or impact its score too much because, overall, it is a pretty solid and original tale.