Real Genius

Plot synopsis:
A group of CIA officers watch a video presentation of a top-secret project called "Crossbow": a space shuttle mounted with a computer-guided laser weapon capable of incinerating a man on the ground with pinpoint accuracy. Researchers on the project have yet to devise a system to generate enough power to operate it. When it becomes clear that this weapon has no wartime applications and is intended solely for illegal assassinations, one agent decries the project as immoral and refuses to take part. The remaining agents discuss eliminating the dissenting agent before going to lunch.
Professor Jerry Hathaway meets high school student Mitch Taylor at the school's science fair. He informs Mitch that he has been admitted to Pacific Technical University, where he will room with physics "legend" Chris Knight. Hathaway is secretly developing the laser for the CIA, but instead of doing the work himself, he has his unpaid students do it, while misappropriating the project funding to remodel his house. Arriving on campus, Mitch meets Chris and is disappointed to learn that he is an irreverent slacker who spends his time pulling elaborate high tech pranks. Mitch also meets Jordan, a hyperkinetic female student, "Ick" Ikagami, a brilliant and affable foil to Chris's antics, and the mysterious Lazlo Hollyfeld, a middle-aged man who seems to be living in Mitch's closet. Hathaway's sycophantic graduate assistant Kent becomes hostile when Hathaway puts Mitch in charge of the laser project.
Under pressure to get results, Hathaway gives Chris an unrealistic timetable, which Chris dismisses. When Mitch is caught attending Chris' pool party instead of working in the lab, Hathaway berates him. The next day Mitch is mortified when a recording of his tearful phone call to his parents is played over a loudspeaker system during lunch, a prank conceived by Kent and his cronies. Humiliated, Mitch is ready to quit school. Chris convinces him to stay by explaining to him that Lazlo was the top genius at Pacific Tech in the 1970s, but suffered a breakdown when he learned that his theories were being used to build weapons. Chris tells Mitch that if he does not want to "crack" like Hollyfeld, he must learn to have fun, and the first order of business is to get even with Kent, calling it a "moral imperative" to do so. They accomplish this by disassembling Kent's car and rebuilding it inside his dorm room. Kent vows revenge.
Under increasing pressure from the CIA, Hathaway berates Chris for failing to solve the laser power problem and promises to fail him and prevent him from graduating. After a pep-talk from Mitch, Chris devotes himself to solving the power problem and achieving a perfect score on Hathaway's final exam. Mitch is accosted by Sherry Nugel, a beautiful older woman who seeks amorous encounters with the top ten geniuses in the country. Mitch turns her down, realizing he's in love with Jordan, and the two become a couple. Though Chris aces Hathway's exam, Chris and Mitch's efforts appear to be ruined when Kent sabotages the laser. In a fit of anger at the laser's destruction, he has an epiphany that solves the power problem. The beam of the redesigned laser has unlimited range and produces an estimated six megawatts of power, exceeding the original requirement.
While the team celebrates its success, Lazlo insists that the high-energy laser can only be used as a weapon, and in fact that it must have been conceived for this purpose. Chris is devastated. Hathaway has removed the laser from the lab. Chris, Mitch, Ick and Jordan trick Kent into revealing the date when the laser is going to be tested by placing a microphone in his braces and convincing him that God is talking to him. The group tails Hathaway to a nearby Air Force base. While Chris and Mitch talk their way onto the base, Lazlo remotely cracks the laser's computer and changes its target coordinates to Hathaway's house, where the team has placed a huge tin of popcorn. Meanwhile, Chris and Mitch remove circuits that prevent the laser from overheating. When the laser beam hits the house, it is diffused by a prism placed by Chris and the popcorn heats and expands; the house bursts at the seams as popcorn pours out onto the lawn. Kent "rides" the flowing popcorn out of the front door unharmed and laughing, thinking the incident was religious in nature. The group, reveling in their success, greet an arriving Lazlo accompanied by Sherry, riding in a motor home pulling a trailer full of prizes he won in a sweepstakes. He and Sherry indicate they intend to run off together as he is the genius she's been looking for all this time. Hathaway arrives home and in disbelief, assesses his ruined home.

Tags: revenge, cult, prank

Review:
Fifteen year-old science prodigy Mitch (Gabe Jarret) is recruited by ambitious college professor Jerry Hathaway (William Atherton, in yet another of his patented roles as a loathsome character) to work on the professor's prize laser project, not knowing that Hathaway is really developing a government weapon.
Along the way, Mitch is mentored by Chris (Val Kilmer), another prodigy a few years his senior who teaches Mitch how to loosen up.This could have degenerated into nothing more than just another teen revenge comedy, but there's so much more: the dialogue is laced with sharp wit; there are some lovely scenes that have nothing to do with the story yet are carefully set up, almost as blackouts (e.g., Mitch goes to a lecture at which a few students have left tape recorders instead of attending; later, at another lecture there are more tape recorders than students; and, in a final scene, one large tape recorder gives the lecture to a room populated by nothing but other small recorders!); and throw-away scenes that make you want to stop and back up the story to watch again (e.g., Chris off-handedly cutting a slice off a bar of dry ice to make a slug for the coffee machine).
This movie is in the genre of Animal House and Revenge of the Nerds but features a cast of geniuses working on a laser, with one of the professors and his minions being the opposition.It is in my top 10 films of all time list.The humorous dialog goes on between ALL the characters but Val Kilmer has center stage even though the story seems to be about Mitch, the new 15 year old, premature college geek.It is a magical movie that can truly lift your spirits if you are depressed.
A new arrival to the campus, Mitch, is a brilliant 15 year-old whom Val takes under his wing and tries to get to loosen up and have a good time.There are probably some important themes and ideas to analyze within this movie, but for me it's just an old-school personal favorite that I've seen about 100 times.
At their best, 80s movies reflect the cultural undertones of an exciting time where humor and optimism were rampant in films despite the specter of cold war, the advent of AIDS and a rocky economy.Real Genius takes the happy, go-lucky optimism of the 80s and superimposes it on the grim topics of military research, cold war espionage and assassination.
Val Kilmer is outstanding in his portrayal of Chris Knight and I lament his departure from this odd and extremely intelligent form of comedy (See Top Secret) - Though Kilmer has been involved with "better" movies since, I don't think he has ever been more genuinely entertaining.I think this movie is a must-watch for anyone who enjoys science, comedy and the 80s genre, or for anyone who is planning on attending a technology school on the West coast.
Jiffy Pop. The imagination and quality of Hollywood movies in the early and mid 80's had regressed back to the pre "Bonnie and Clyde" days (the early and mid-60's being the worst ever period of American movie-making).Fortunately there were a few gems like "Real Genius" to sustain audiences.
Any film that features a memorable moment like Deborah Foreman's articulation of her standards for a male companion, a memorable character like Michelle Meyrink's hyper-kinetic Jordon, and the memorable sight of a house exploding from the force of a giant Jiffy Pop container can never be forgotten.And who doesn't feel good just watching the neighborhood kids play in a mountain of popcorn to the sound of Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants To Rule The World".Although "Real Genius" has not totally escaped the ravages of the past 20 years, it has held up reasonably well.
It is unfortunate that Val Kilmer so quickly "graduated" from the realm of youth oriented roles, as his work in Real Genius is by far the most enjoyable to watch.
Kilmer proves adept at excellent comic timing, and he is given a motherlode of razor-sharp one-liners to fire off in every scene (I speculate that writer Pat Proft enjoyed watching The Marx Brothers in his formative years).
I sure know that every time I see that slow-motion romp through the popcorn and hear Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," ramp up on the soundtrack, my cynicism just melts away..
Val Kilmer is at his absolute best, William Atherton is as sly as Jeffrey Jones is oafish in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."  The supporting heroine is annoying and unneeded, but who needs her when you've got Jonathan Gries to laugh at?
The movie has great scenes where the smart kids make it so dry ice is formed in the halls of the dorm and at one point they have a pool party.
They are all in the end working on this laser project which is the central plot point in the film and what makes the plot go from just your typical school type movie to something a bit more.
Like many other users who have commented, "Real Genius" is one of my favorite 80's films.
The premise is amusing, the dialogue is great, the timing is spot-on and the presence of a startlingly pretty Val Kilmer never does any harm, either.
The ending is a little weak - the film degenerates into a revenge comedy in the final 20 minutes - but I've long since forgiven that...For those of us who were part of the 'too smart to be popular, too social to be geeks' set, this film was our inspiration and, in a lesser way, a beacon of hope, all summarized in the line "When you're smart, people *need* you."This is a good 'family' movie, believe it or not.
The movie takes its time getting to these points, with lots of vignettes along the way, but that only makes the payoff sweeter because we know these people by the end of the flick.
I liked everything about this movie; Val Kilmer was great, and William Atherton was perfect as the Evil Professor who manipulates and gets rich off of his genius students.
It'll be a while yet before George Jetson's space vehicle becomes viable for the middle-class.Brian Glazer showed sharp capabilities as a producer, Val Kilmer had a deft touch as the Geek-turned-Stud with this comedic extension of Cal Poly's renowned tradition of student pranks.Smart story, touching script and a cast I would have enjoyed seeing in ongoing comedic vehicles.
Very funny dialogue, a great cast (including the geek goddess Michelle Meyrink), and appropriately opprobrious synthopop music: This movie's got it all.
When people go on and on about the '70s as the last golden age of the movies, I think of Real Genius, Say Anything, John Sayles's early films, Something Wild, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Hairspray, Blue Velvet, Brazil, She's Gotta Have It, Do the Right Thing, Earth Girls Are Easy (the last great musical?) and a handful of others, and it makes me think that there was another great decade of films that maybe we don't really appreciate yet because we're too close to it.
Real genius is a saterical comedy staring Val Kilmer.Another movie I cought on HBO one Saturday morning that quickly became one of my favorites.Real Genius is about a 16 year old kid named Mitch (Gabe Jarret) which the only other movie I saw him in was Apollo 13.
Mitch gets accepted to one of the best colleges in the country and is recruited to create a super lazer with the help of his dorm roommate one of the top brains and all around goofballs Chris (Val Kilmer) though they have no idea what it will be used for.While this is going on Mitch sees a man who's been living in their closet named Lazlo (Jonathan Gries who also played Napoleon Dynamites meat throwing uncle) Lazlo tells them that they might have just made a lazer that could be used for the military and they set up a plan to stop it.Does their plan work?
Also, Val Kilmer does a great job in this movie as " Chris Knight", definitely one of his best roles next to Iceman in "Top Gun".
But Real Genius is a fun and reasonably intelligent comedy with exceptionally smart people as its heroes.
Gabe Jarret is a 15 yr old new to the team who finds himself roomed with Val Kilmer; a genius who has long ago decided not to take school so seriously.
We know how funny actor Val Kilmer could be after his debut performance in the comedy spoof "Top Secret", and the filmmakers here took that chance by giving the fresh faced actor one of central roles where he would truly make light work of his flamboyantly off-the-wall character.
With "Real Genius" it was one of those films that passed me by, but when I noticed it I was expecting your basic ho-hum teen comedy, but while it might have the token characters and usual situations it actually had a fresh and clever spin to it all.
And each time it ends, you can't help but smile while "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" plays.Unfortunately, while Val and Gabe kept acting (as well as Jon Gries who played Lazlo), the actors who played Ick (The ice goes straight from solid to a gaseous state.
While I hope they have had truly happy lives, I think they could have gotten roles in many more films of the time.Along with The Breakfast Club, these are the movies which I feel defines my era and education (and yes, I know that looks like a weird combination).Geeks rule!
All at once, Real Genius attempts to be a high school type movie, with its obvious parties, crude humor and wacky behaviors.
The intensive use of computers and circuits to drive plot was never really used before  it had no place before the late 80's, when the promise of computer technology was not yet seen.Val Kilmer plays the head genius, who has turned into a wild character through his years under the oppressive tutelage of his head professor.
But it's a great 80s teen sex comedy, with zingy dialogue and an engaging plot, and an early glimmer of Val Kilmer's brilliance.
I think Dips**t Knight has a nice ring to it" could have come from the mouth of the Maestro himself.But "Real Genius" is not a Val Kilmer star vehicle.
(Kilmer never became much of a star, after all.) At its heart, it's a pretty thought-provoking movie: "Real Genius" is about the exploitation of intellect.
All the science whizzes depicted in the film are potential Robert Oppenheims, and the movie is about the moral choices they make in response to the demands of the military-industrial complex: opposition (Val Kilmer's Chris and his sidekick, Mitch), accommodation (Professor Hathaway and Chris' arch-nemesis Kent) or retreat (hermit Laszlo Hollyfeld).
I like Val much better when he isn't being so serious.Real Genius is a light, funny film.
If you enjoy comedy and you like Val Kilmer watch Real Genius and if you can find it, Top Secret!.
Real Genius is a great, silly 80's movie about a bunch of genius kids working with a 5mW laser and...
I must say that I was about 15 years old when I saw this movie, guess that's why it hooked on till these days, when I'm looking the DVD version of it to be able to watch it till the end of times.I can recall another movie that's also as original and whitty as this, with Tom Hanks, called "home sweet home".But "Real Genius" is a milestone, like, who would think of a guy living inside a closet, and that the closet reaches the basement of a building by a little toy car?A very insightfull of how intelligence can affect young minds, and a way that those intelligent but young and innocent minds can be handled by an obnoxious man.If you haven't seen it, GO DO IT RIGHT NOW!!!!!.
Chris Knight (Val Kilmer) is the irreverent science genius.
Chris is about to graduate but Hathaway blackmails him unless he fixes his laser.Val Kilmer is great as the irreverent genius.
Mix greed, government corruption, college pranks and a truly talented cast, and you have the movie "Real Genius".
The great thing about this movie is that the characters are so well developed, from Chris Knight (the disillusioned genius) to Lazlo Hollyfeld (the guy who lives in the closet).
Real Genius is a great Friday night movie or any other night for that matter..
This is a movie that truly gets better each time you watch it.
This is a definitive 80's cult classic showcasing a talented cast, a zany script and a humorous look at the brilliant mind of a real genius.
The soundtrack is great!This is one of Val Kilmer's best movies and one of my favorite movies from this period.
This movie with real genius, much of course, on the onus of the great ingenius writers of this script, I love, every time I watch it.
The film boasts great performances, and the new hotshot, but stressed genius, Mitch (Gabe Jarrett) who Kilmer takes under his wing, is a likeable character that grows on you.
It has great performances from the young cast, and if you only see one movie with Val Kilmer, make it Real Genius.
Val Kilmer in one of his first movie performances demonstrates a relaxed and expanded talent to deliver on a funny and unique script.
RELEASED IN 1985 and directed by Martha Coolidge, "Real Genius" is a college dramedy about a 15 year-old genius in laser technology (Gabe Jarret) who's recruited by physics Professor Jerry Hathaway (William Atherton), who has ulterior motives for having the kid work in his personal lab.
"Real Genius" was truly a film about university science students with a moral and genuine humor.
There were one or two other minor players in the student genre that year, but again this film had them beat.Well shot, well acted, good production values, if you need a nostalgia blast in the science student genre, give "Real Genius" a try.Enjoy..
It has often been said that once you love "Weird Science" you'll also like "Real Genius".
It wanted you to really love all of its characters and made some of them as goofy as possible.But really the only character that truly works out and becomes a greatly fun and memorable one is the Val Kilmer character.
But this in itself is still enough to make the movie a real fun and entertaining one to watch!
It makes it once more obvious what a waste it is that Val Kilmer never really broke through as a comedy actor and didn't do more movies like this during his career.
Val Kilmer his look has changed very drastically over the last couple of years and with change I mean his pretty extreme sudden weight gain, while he was once a true Hollywood heartthrob.The sort of 'childish' '80's teenage comedy approach is what makes the movie actually charming and in a way also irresistible to watch.
This movie brings back a lot of memories and it's one of Val Kilmer's most entertaining comedies.
this film is awesome.i loved it.it's only Val Kilmer's second feature film,the first being Top Secret a year earlier.basically,it all about a college full of misfit geniuses and the mischief they get into,since most of them don't have to study.there are some very quirky characters,and some pretty funny pranks.but it's not all fun and games.possible spoiler***the students actually end up foiling a top secret military plot as well.end of spoiler***for sheer zaniness,it's hard to beat this film.the music,especially by Tears for Fears took me back.if you're looking for high art,this movie is far from it.but,if you just wanna sit back,turn your bairn off,and have some fun,this could be you movie.for me,it's a perfect 10/10.
I can't figure why I still consider this movie--full of silly jokes, some inventive pranks and a ridiculous pedestrian plot line--one of my all-time favorites.Maybe its nostalgia coupled with an odd desire to be just like the nutty, creative genius types who could hack a free phone or get a free soda by inserting a sliver of frozen nitrogen into the machine.Kilmer certainly carries the whole film.
Together with other teens, they try to put a stop to it.The humor in the film can only be compared to other comedy greats, like Airplane!
Thankfully with high deff home theaters and DVD, i can get the next best thing.Real Genius is a well crafted light harted college comedy that doesn't take itself too seriously and instead of focusing on guys trying to get laid, gross out humor,stoners, and girls trying to "distroy" one another, this one has hardly any of that and focuses on the characters and there attempt to build a super laser, only to realise that its meant as a weapon for the government.Val Kilmer, the movies star, really shines here.
It reminds me of what great comedic timing Val Kilmer has.Around the same time he was in Top Secret..another 80's classic.That is not to say that he was not good in some of his more dramatic roles...
The movie works a whole lot more than you'd expect -- it is sincere and creative, and by the time the climax comes, we're so involved that it plays like a thriller.
Indeed, the role of Chris Knight may be Val Kilmer's defining role for thousands of geeks all over the world.For the three people out there who haven't seen the movie, a quick rundown is pretty simple.
Before William Atherton appeared in the classic film Bio-Dome, there was Real Genius.
Real Genius is a true great 1980's comedy.
Grouped as one of the many "teen" movies made from 1982-88, this is a very entertaining film thanks in large part to Val Kilmer.
Real Genius was a pretty good movie.