Real Genius has an engaging premise, but gets to it too late in my opinion. Science whiz kids finding out their work will be used for military applications and making sure it doesn't happen is a fun and heroic hook you see, but the movie spends almost all its time acting like a college party comedy, where the only real twist is that the smartest kid is the cool goofball (Val Kilmer who, despite getting the poster, isn't actually the protagonist). As far as these things go, it's not bad. The dialog can be witty, and the villains are satirically played with gusto, and that's fun, but you could easily trim 20 minutes out of it, those that don't really add anything to the genre, just the usual revenge comedy shenanigans of cool vs. uncool. Still, the flick has bouncy energy. I just wish it were less Revenge of the Nerds and more War Games.
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Siskoid
Real Genius has an engaging premise, but gets to it too late in my opinion. Science whiz kids finding out their work will be used for military applications and making sure it doesn't happen is a fun and heroic hook you see, but the movie spends almost all its time acting like a college party comedy, where the only real twist is that the smartest kid is the cool goofball (Val Kilmer who, despite getting the poster, isn't actually the protagonist). As far as these things go, it's not bad. The dialog can be witty, and the villains are satirically played with gusto, and that's fun, but you could easily trim 20 minutes out of it, those that don't really add anything to the genre, just the usual revenge comedy shenanigans of cool vs. uncool. Still, the flick has bouncy energy. I just wish it were less Revenge of the Nerds and more War Games.manute5150
Most obnoxious and he was awesome. This little gem makes me smile.TheMadMovieMan
"Do you run?""Only when chased."
devilsadvocado
Val Kilmer's most obnoxious role ever.Nine99
Typical 80s comedy.ecnered
Worst sci-fi I've seen so far.