Real Genius: A Comedy Made By The ‘80s
They don’t make them like they used to. Real Genius is a fun romp through ‘80s style and humor. If you want a Revenge of the Nerds without nearly as much raunch, this is the movie. Don’t forget the popcorn. You might need it.
Plot
Hathaway, to Mitch: Compared to you, most people have the IQ of a carrot.
Recruiter: Are you Chris Knight?
Chris: I hope so; I’m wearing his underwear.
Fifteen year old, naive Mitch Taylor(Gabriel Jarret) is a genius. He’s accepted to the MIT-type, Pacific Tech college, and has a lot to learn about campus life. Luckily, equally intelligent(but much more laid back) senior Chris Knight(Val Kilmer) takes him under his wing as they work on what they think is a college project.
What they don’t know is that the LASER they are building is for a corrupt government agency.
Reading the plot, I should promise-this wasn’t made last year.
Shadowy Government Project
The military has been secretly developing a laser that can assassinate anyone covertly from space. Things aren’t going too well, as their laser just isn’t cutting it.
Equally shady Professor(and popcorn hater) Jerry Hathaway (William Atherton) has happily taken it upon himself to make bank developing the laser under the guise of the laser being used for peaceful purposes.
Kent
Kent: You’ll rue the day!
Chris: “Rue the day?” Who talks like that?
Kent(Robert Prescott) is Hathaway’s student lackey. He has all the delicious ‘80s smarminess and sliminess that people usually only attribute to James Spader. He faces hilarious comeuppance after hilarious comeuppance via Mitch and Chris. This ramps up after Kent records a tearful phone call between Mitch and his parents, where he begs to come home, and plays it over the school’s loudspeakers.
College Life
Not everything is brain wringing work.
The geniuses at the school make ice that lines the hallways, but disappears into gas in an hour or two.
They disassemble and reassemble Kent’s car into his bedroom, and wire his braces with radio transmitters to make him think he hears Jesus.
A burned out alumni lives in Mitch and Chris’s closet, sort of.
Talkative, non-sleeping, intrusive, wildly inventive, yet still sweet, hyperkinetic nineteen year old Jordan(Michelle Meyrink) is one of only a handful of women enrolled at the college. She immediately befriends Mitch without a second thought.
Hathaway, unhappy with the slow progress, tells Chris he is off the project, and that no matter what, he will fail out. Not only that, he will lose any chance of having a career.
Revenge of the…Geniuses
A jealous Kent sabotages the laser, and it actually helps instead of hindering, making the rebuilt laser a success.
When the entire, now functional laser disappears overnight, closet dwelling burnout Lazlo Hollyfeld(John Gries) informs Mitch and Chris about the actual applications the laser was built for.
The boys-with a little help from Jordan- have to stop the laser, get revenge on slimeball professors Hathaway and Kent, and assure Chris graduates.
Is it Watchable?
Real Genius is a cleaner(but not squeaky) cousin of the aforementioned Revenge of the Nerds. Unlike Revenge, it has aged very well. Fun fact: actress Meyrink was in Revenge as well!
The soundtrack is first rate, the fashion is cool, and the quotable lines don’t stop. Val Kilmer is brilliant, of course. But the rest of the cast are incredibly complementary to his half laid back, half dynamic Chris.
Jordan and Mitch are cute(and only slightly creepy, since she is older-but they never really act on their feelings).
The movie never drags, and you will happily pay attention every minute.
Real Genius is available on some streaming services, and is available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
