1Up is an Amazon Prime underdog competition comedy about a group of ladies who form an all-women’s university eSports team. Can this plucky bunch of stereotypes beat the sexist goons on the top-rated team? Have you seen a movie before?

The premise of an all-girls team fighting against sexism is fine… but when I saw BuzzFeed as a producer, my eyes rolled. I figured I knew exactly what kind of back-patting preaching this movie was going to loll in.

And I was wrong. This flick trades in stereotypes you just know the website has written a hundred and five listicles against. Sure, the trans woman is given heart but the fat girl? ALL the fat jokes. The loopy crazy girl? She’s loopy and crazy. The social media influencer? You already know the jokes. I’m not sure how they can kick against the patriarchy while being no better than the stereotypes they pretend to sneer at. Pick a lane!

As far as the depiction of gaming culture, I the very title of this movie tells you everything. This is a movie about eSports and team shooters but uses a title that has little meaning in much of modern gaming. It’s throwback to quarter-munching arcades and the NES era… picked probably so filthy casuals would recognize it as a video game movie.

A video game movie that often sneers at video gamers. Not for the entire movie, but certainly early on. It has opening text that assures us that, OMG, people actually can get a scholarship from eSports. What will these crazy Gen Zs do next? Can you even believe them? <sigh>

So fine… whatever… the movie pays lip service while being <i>that</i> sports title with all the clichés. Fine. We can step off the soap box and just ask if the movie’s funny. No, it’s not. And it’s super predictable. You know how its going to end. No surprises. Just the same ol’ same ol’.

This just isn’t a funny movie while being wholly predictable, lazy and hypocritical.

Score: 58