The bawdy teen-based sex comedy really kickstarted with 1978’s National Lampoon’s Animal House. Similar movies soon followed over the years with the likes of Porky’s, Revenge of the Nerds and even the American Pie films. They all felt rather samey with minimal plot and actors in their late 20s or early 30s playing high-school students Honestly, they only really existed to provide cheap laughs and some T ‘n A.

I remember my Uncle renting Porky’s from a local VHS shop and letting me watch it when I was about 8 or 9. Obviously, I never really ‘got’ the film back then and probably just sniggered a few times whenever a pair of tits was on screen or when a character said “shit”. Watching the film as an adult, I get the jokes and now understand why they call her Lassie. It’s a pretty good film in its own right too and one of few teen sex comedies that has held up. Porky’s was my introduction to this sub-genre and over the years, I’ve tried to seek out and watch other films of its ilk.

Only recently did I discover a film that I’ve never heard of, a film that covers a subject I adore and from an era that I grew up in. Joysticks is a 1983 bawdy comedy, in the vein of Porky’s, but centred around video games and arcades. Seeing as this is a movie and gaming blog, a movie about gaming in the ’80s is right up my alley.

Released in 1983, post-Porky’s staggering success. It is very clear that Joysticks is very much a jumping-on-the-bandwagon type of film. The basic plot is just that, basic and an often-used trope in the ’80s. A popular arcade is under threat by a rich local businessman and the ‘kids’ (read 30 year olds playing kids) band together to save the community centre… I mean arcade. Even the awesome The Blues Brothers had that basic plot, it was an orphanage that needed saving that time though.

Anyway, Joysticks’ minimal story is perfect for a teen sex comedy like this. The paper-thin plot can be quickly brushed aside so the film can show women taking their tops off. It also makes little sense because back then, games were definitely aimed more towards a younger audience. It does make sense to want to make a video game film to get kids to watch. Like how films such as BMX Bandits or Breakin’ rode on the BMX and break-dancing fads of the ’80s, this could do the same for video games. But Joysticks is a sex comedy which kids can’t watch. So, I’m not sure who the original audience was meant to be. Joysticks is a bit of a confusing mess. Not the plot, that is bare minimal basic stuff, but just the idea of taking a kid-centric pastime and throwing in naked girls and adult humour.

As a teen, I probably would’ve been distracted by the naked flesh on show but as an adult watching this, I was more engrossed by the arcade games being played and more distracted by the awful video game-playing acting. The characters are all stock for the era. You have the nerd wearing glasses, the cool and good-looking kid whose grandfather owns the arcade and there’s even a John Belushi ‘funny fat guy’ character who eats a lot. It really is very stereotypical.

In terms of Joysticks being a comedy, it made me laugh a few times. Massively outdated humour by today’s standards and all that but I still found it ’80s funny. I doubt that this will be held up as a classic like Porky’s and nor will it be added to the National Film Registry like Animal House was in 2001. Even so, it was a fun watch and if you like some tits with your Moon Patrol and Galaxian, then this is worth a watch. It can even be found for free on YouTube… for the moment. “Totally awesome video games!”

I was pretty damn surprised to learn, via research, that Midway Games gave the rights to use Pac-Man imagery and games in the film. And Pac-Man features a lot, from footage of the game to the Pac-Man character being used as screen wipes. They even gave permission to show footage of Super Pac-Man, which was unreleased when the film was being made. This teen sex comedy had the official Pac-Man licence…and tits. It’s stupid nonsense, but a good bit of cheesy fun.