I just got back from seeing this in LA today. I have been a huge fan of James since 2005 and have seen all of his videos and absolutely loved 90% of them. When the trailer for the movie first came out I thought it looked completely unwatchable and terrible. Then he took another very long break in between that and trailer #2 because he wanted things to be perfect. Trailer #2 didn't change my opinion either. Out of my love for James' videos I went to see this in theaters as did a few of my friends who also like the nerd.
For anyone who saw the trailers, the movie is nowhere near as terrible as the trailers made them out to be. The movie at the very least is fun, enjoyable, and light-hearted. I wouldn't say it is great, I wouldn't say it is awful.
I would probably give it a 6/10. There are lots of great jokes and comedic moments in it. The plot would get serious at some parts and would detract from how silly the whole movie is. The plot is very flawed, as are some of the characters. My favorite character in the film, James' boss, is only in one or two scenes in the entire film and you never see him again. The girl and James' sidekick don't detract from the movie (I thought they would judging by the trailer), but they don't add anything as well. Other characters just aren't fleshed out enough.
The visuals are easily the worst part of the whole film. I did not expect some advanced visuals from this film, but it isn't even passable. Everything about them seem cheap. The green screen visuals are always much blurrier and darker than the characters in the foreground. Quite a few scenes when it would show the Nerd and crew driving, people started laughing instantly at how fake it looked due to the bad green screen. The CG is just straight up garbage and takes me out of the movie, it looks like a PS1 game.
James made all these update videos about practical effects and working hard on them. I feel really bad for the guy, because the scenes that use practical effects, especially miniatures, are complete garbage. I am not joking when I say that every scene that used a miniature people would start laughing instantly. Imagine watching a tiny cheap die-cast looking vehicle that is very undetailed driving through sand.
I don't know what they were thinking. The audience must of thought all these miniature parts were intentionally bad, judging by their laughter each time one was shown, but I know that James made them out to be a big deal and talked about how much work they were.
The film tries to avoid any legal issues by recreating games visuals and calling them slightly different things. E.T. is called Eee Tee. Every game they show on the screen, even Top Gun, are all recreated, cheap looking visuals. Stuff like this detracts from the overall experience.
For all its issues though, whether it be bad plot, unnecessary characters, or terrible visuals, the movie is genuinely hilarious and had me laughing throughout the whole thing. It was fun to watch, but I can't see myself ever watching it again. I hope James' next movie is much better and that he gets to make a film he has always wanted, instead of just being the nerd. I am glad the movie didn't turn out to be awful, but it does have many flaws. Still a fun watch though.