The 15 Best Nerd Movies Of All Time Ranked

Nerd movies, like geeks themselves, have come a long way over the last few decades. When films about nerds and geeks started becoming popular in the 1980s, they showed the characters as losers, misfits, and outsiders who had to face bullies, who were often the cool, popular kids. Since the 80s, the roles have stayed the same concerning their brains and status as misfits, but these characters have become more prestigious and important, as brains are more important than brawn in today's society.

When it comes to movies about nerds and geeks, they are no longer just about nerds being picked on by jocks and having to survive. They have become films about the smartest kids in the class doing things that no one ever imagined they could do. Geeks today are cool and often have more in common with regular people than the jocks that used to rule the class. They are the catalysts in sci-fi movies, win in love without being considered lucky, and end up as the head of the table, with the former cool kids working for them.

15 Sydney White (2007)

A Re-Telling Of Snow White With The Seven Dwarfs As Nerds

Released in 2007, Sydney White was an Amanda Bynes vehicle when she was still at the top of the teen romantic comedy genre. In this film, Bynes plays Sydney White, a spin on Snow White. She heads to college and quickly becomes popular thanks to her likable personality, and catches the eye of a popular frat guy named Tyler Prince. However, Tyler is dating Rachel Witchburn and this young woman sets her sights on ruining Sydney, and gets her kicked out of her sorority. She ends up befriending the "Seven Dorks," college outcasts.

While the movie did go back to the geeks as outsiders trope, it was a nice callback to Revenge of the Nerds-styled humor.

The movie is light fare, but is a fun spin on the classic Grimm Fairy Tale (and Disney animated classic). Bynes was at the top of her game when she made this movie and the "Seven Dorks" were all charming in their own way. There were also some familiar faces among the "Dorks," including Danny Strong (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Samm Levine (Freaks and Geeks). While the movie did go back to the geeks as outsiders trope, it was a nice callback to Revenge of the Nerds-styled humor.

14 The House Bunny (2008)

A Playboy Bunny Moves Into A Sorority Of Outcasts

The House Bunny has an interesting premise where a "hot girl" moves into a nerdy sorority, but she ends up being almost as awkward and lost as the nerds who are members of the house. Anna Faris is a Playboy Bunny named Shelley Darlingson who grew up in an orphanage but now lives with Hugh Hefner in the Playboy Mansion. However, on her 27th birthday, she receives a forged note from Hugh Hefner asking her to move out. Depressed, she decides to be a sorority housemother to live in their nice houses.

However, the only house that accepts her is the Zeta Alpha Zeta house, a house of socially awkward young women who takes her in because they think she will attract boys to their house. There are problematic areas to the story, as the entire idea is the women in the sorority house believing they need a prettier woman to get the boys. However, the film remains a sweet movie with its heart in the right place and when the women of Zeta Alpha Zeta find their confidence and grow into their place in the world.

13 Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

A Moment In The Life Of A Socially Awkward High Schooler

Based on a short film called Peluca, Jared Hess directed Jon Heder in Napoleon Dynamite, a movie about life in a small Idaho town from the point of view of an awkward high school student. Napoleon is a nerd who believes he is cooler than the other kids in school, but he also faces bullying by the popular kids. However, despite his anti-social attitude and need to often lash out at those around him, he also has a big heart and sets out to help a fellow nerd in Pedro Sanchez in his desire to run for the student council.

The movie was a massive success, made for only $400,000 but making $46.1 million at the box office thanks to word-of-mouth recommending the weird and quirky storyline. Director Hess said that it was hard to get made because people felt it was "too weird or they just didn't like the character" (via Rolling Stone). The film has since become a cult classic as well and enjoyed its 20th anniversary with a special screening at the Sundance Film Festival in 2024, the same festival where it originally screened.

12 WarGames (1983)

A Nerdy Hacker Almost Starts World War III

WarGames is a movie that shows that not all nerds are weird outsiders that are often picked on by people bigger and more popular than them. This was a film that showed how a nerd's brain can not only cause a lot of problems but also be the one to help solve the problems. Matthew Broderick stars as David Lightman, a young computer hacker who accidentally hacks into a United States military supercomputer. Thinking it is a video game, he sets up a big attack only to learn he triggered a false alarm that threatens to start World War III.

The film is a 1980s staple and one of the more popular movies from the decade when it comes to the era's focus on young adult fare, this one standing out thanks to its real-world yet almost sci-fi twist. Despite its young adult leanings, WarGames actually picked up three Oscar nominations, including one for Best Original Screenplay. It is also one of the movies that helped popularize the themes of computer hacking and cyber activity in movies in an era where they were still seen as mostly sci-fi ideas.

11 Revenge Of The Nerds (1984)

An Underdog Story Of Nerds In College

At one time, there wasn't a more popular nerd movie than Revenge of the Nerds. However, time has not been kind to the film when it comes to the storyline and its overall basic themes. The plot of the movie is a basic underdog story. The nerds of the film are Lewis and Gilbert after they enroll in college to study computer science. However, they find themselves the targets of the Alpha Beta frat, which is mostly members of the football team who take aim at the nerds after they see them achieving success in college.

However, the problems lie in what the nerds do to get revenge. Problematic aspects of Revenge of the Nerds include a scene that depicts an actual sexual assault when Lewis pretends to be Stan in a dark room so he can have sex with Betty. There is also a hint of revenge porn when they share the nude photos with the college campus. However, with all the problems, the film still remains a strong story of the underdogs overcoming all odds against the hierarchy of college life by using their brains to overcome the brawn.

10 Big Hero 6 (2014)

A Superhero Team Of Nerds

Big Hero 6 is proof that the superhero genre doesn't have to be big, brawny powerhouses. While Tony Stark is a genius, he isn't a nerd. Peter Parker fits the role, but he has the power and strength of a superhero to carry him to victory. However, the heroes in Big Hero 6 get much of their inspiration from him but without superhuman powers. Instead, they use their nerdy brains to become superheroes by creating their own gadgets and power suits. It is one of the best examples of kids using their brains to turn themselves into heroes.

Big Hero Six won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature and it was the highest-grossing animated film of 2014.

The only superpowered Big Hero 6 hero is the robot Baymax, while the rest are just super-geniuses who created their superhero personas while in a science program in college. The film was a huge success, even with most fans having no idea that it was based on a Marvel Comics team. Big Hero Six won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature and it was the highest-grossing animated film of 2014 (beating out How to Train Your Dragon 2 for both of those honors).

9 The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

A 40-Year-Old Nerd Looking For Love

The 40-Year-Old Virgin is an interesting addition to the idea of nerds in movies, since these films usually look at teenagers or college students getting picked on by the members of cliques in their schools. In this case, it shows a 40-year-old man who is still a nerd, and who mostly finds himself still made fun of by other men who have still not grown up inside. This also is not a case where the nerd uses his brains to prove that there is nothing wrong with being a nerd. This is just about a guy who needs to mature and grow up.

Steve Carell plays Andy, the virgin nerd of the title, a man who stopped trying to have sex with women after several failed attempts. Instead, he lives alone in his apartment, surrounded by his beloved geek life, including action figures and video games. When his friends learn he is a virgin, they set out to help him lose his virginity. However, this is a movie about Andy finding his real place in the world and true love, and its use of his nerdy obsessions actually helps him finally break out of his shell.

8 Spider-Man (2002)

The Ultimate Marvel Comics Superhero Nerd

The big selling point of Spider-Man in his comic book origin story was that he was a nerd with no friends. He was a very intelligent student who preferred science over partying and was called a bookworm by the school's biggest bully, Flash Thompson. In the three iterations of Spider-Man in the movies, it is the Sam Raimi trilogy that gets this version of Peter Parker right. While Andrew Garfield was a little too cool, and Tom Holland never went too hard in the nerdy direction, Tobey Maguire nailed it.

The second movie was the best of the trilogy, but it was the first installment that was the best when showing Peter Parker as the ultimate nerd who had to figure out how to be a superhero when he gained his powers. The first two movies also played it smart by having Spider-Man's biggest villains as nerds, too, with Norman Osborne, a successful nerd industrialist, and Doctor Octopus, a more basic science nerd. Having the nerdiest Marvel character battling other super geniuses made these perfect Marvel Comics adaptations.

7 Weird Science (1985)

Two Nerds Create Their Perfect Woman

John Hughes dealt with a lot of nerds throughout his film career. Anthony Michael Hall might have been his greatest nerd creation, with him playing the role in The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles. However, his best role as a nerd in the lead of a film came in 1985's Weird Science. In this movie, Hall and Iian Michael-Smith play two high school nerds named Gary and Wyatt who are picked up by jocks and humiliated when they swoon over two hit cheerleaders.

The two decide they want to win over the cheerleaders from their jock boyfriends, and they decide to create their perfect virtual woman. However, what they didn't expect was that the experiment would create a real-life perfect woman (Kelly LeBrock), who then helped the two of them overcome their insecurities and rise above their spot as high school nerds so that they could achieve their dreams. The movie is a product of its times, with the cheerleaders falling in love with the nerds as damsels in distress, but its heart is in the right place.

6 Booksmart (2019)

Two Nerdy Girls Decide To Have Fun On The End Of High School

Booksmart Is a similar movie to Superbad but with some key differences. The main characters are young women who want to end their high school careers in style. Unlike the boys in Superbad who just wanted to have sex before graduation, Amy and Molly have a different reason for wanting to go wild at a year-end graduation party. They spent their entire high school careers doing everything right, and they found their reward was acceptance to Ivy League schools. However, other students partied in high school and also had college admissions.

Amy and Molly decide they want to have at least one night of party fun before they move on to college to at least have the experience.

Amy and Molly decide they want to have at least one night of party fun before they move on to college to at least have the experience. There is a lot more going on under the hood of this coming-of-age film, with Amy wanting to hook up with a girl named Ryan, and Molly wanting to prove to the other students that she is more than just a book-smart nerd. Critics loved the film, awarding it a high 96% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while Beanie Feldstein earned a Golden Globes nomination for her performance.

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