Last night's movie watch was another of my big-box ex-rental videos that I've owned for about 30 years and counting but had never got round to watching until now. This one was Real Genius.
Directed by Martha Coolidge, and released by Tri-Star Pictures in 1985, Real Genius is a sci fi comedy movie starring a young Val Kilmer as science whiz kid/smartass Chris Knight who is blackmailed by his ruthless college tutor Prof. Jerry Hathaway (William Atherton) at Pacific Tech (a fictional university for young geniuses) into creating an exceptionally high-powered laser.
Unbeknownst to Chris, however, Atherton aims to sell off to the military as a weapon of destruction that can be launched from space – but once he finally discovers the sinister truth, Chris at long last transforms from irreverent to relevant, from sassy to serious in less time than it takes to say "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation", in fact!
And so, assisted by his fellow students, especially younger and even brighter whiz kid/nerd/room-mate Mitch Taylor (Gabriel Jarret), as well as older and brightest of all whiz kid/weirdo Lazlo Hollyfeld (Jon Gries) who lives inside their wardrobe/closet (and which leads not to Narnia but rather to Lazlo's hidden laboratory), Chris vehemently vows to turn Atherton's pernicious plan to popcorn – literally!
Although Real Genius does have its memorable moments (notably its explosive climactic scene!), at least 15 min could have been excised from its 1 hr 46 min running time with absolutely no loss of vital content, bearing in mind that much of what does pass for content consists of asinine, increasingly tedious student shenanigans (Kilmer's character in particular swiftly transforms from goofy to just plain irritating in a very short space of time, I found). If you want to view a movie master-class in how being 'zany' and 'crazy' can be done to death, it doesn't take a genius (real or otherwise) to realise that this lightweight, over-long movie is definitely the one to watch.
Having said that, perhaps I am nowadays simply too old or mature (or both) to enjoy such screwball dormitory pranks and extra-curricular campus activities as showcased in Real Genius (all of which, incidentally, were actually based upon real-life examples executed by students at various universities!) – who knows? Maybe I'd have been more enthusiastic about this 'fun' movie had I watched it when I originally bought its video, i.e. in my mid-20s and therefore very much nearer to what I'm assuming was its intended teenage/student target audience when released.
Nevertheless, I do have an abiding love for silly-but-witty quips that makes me massively appreciate the following example offered up by Chris to Mitch:
"I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said: "…I drank what?""
Priceless! That alone not only made me laugh but also was worth the price of the video, as well as my time spent last night watching it – so everything else, such that it was, is a bonus.
Finally: showing my age (again!), a rock song playing in Real Genius proved very tantalizing, because I recognized it immediately as 'I'm Falling' but couldn't remember the name of the band performing it – it turned out to be The Comsat Angels, from Sheffield, England, and somewhere I may still have this 1985 single, but here is their video of it.
If you'd like to enroll at Pacific Tech for a few moments to indulge in its tomfoolery amid the test tubes, its laughter inside the laboratories, please click here to view an official Real Genius trailer on YouTube.
To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.
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