Real Genius (1985)

Undescribable Perfection

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

I love this movie! I watch it every time it's on cable. The song "Everybody wants to rule world" by Tears for Fears has become one of my all time songs.

In the late 60's-early 70's I was a math and physics geek dreaming and working at getting a scholarship to Caltech, the real university fictionalized in the film. The Vietnam War and a draft lottery number of 5 intervened so I wound up joining the Navy and actually working on WMDs as I hunted the Great Steel Whales. I must have seen this film 50 times over the years and it's always funny and fresh each time.Contrary to the opinions of many, The plot IS based on the true story of a Caltech grad student who invented the X-ray laser for eye surgery; only to have Edward Teller of the Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Weapons Labs try to turn it into a space-based particle beam weapon for Reagan's Star Wars project. Many of the incidents depicted are taken directly from the hijinks Caltech students engage in during the annual Ditch Day celebrations.I won't rehash the plot since so many have already done so on these pages. Suffice to say that a great, funny, literate script, journeyman direction by Martha Coolidge and believable performances by Jarret, Kilmer, Atherton, Meyrink, et all put this film a cut above virtually all the other 80's school and nerd comedies. The only reason I didn't give it a 10 was due to the somewhat cheesy special effects of the B1-B bomber used in the weapon's test.Ironically enough, I lived in Pasadena in the late 90's/early 00's and drove past Caltech every day on my way home from work. There I would periodically see busloads of Chinese tourists from the People's Republic taking each other's pictures in front of the Caltech administration building. I always wondered how many of THEM had seen this film and if seeing it would have changed their enthusiasm for the place.

Today I was rumaging threw my movie collection and came across Real Genius and thought it would be the next perfect movie to review. 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? you'll just have to see the movie to find out With a great cast and great 80's music from the likes of Tears for Fears,Bryan Adams and Don Henley this is definitely a movie to check out at least once although you wont wanna see it just once but I may just be saying that since I consider this my favorite movie.Since I really see nothing wrong with this movie i'll rate it five lazer beams out of five

This movie brings back a lot of memories and it's one of Val Kilmer's most entertaining comedies. This movie belongs on the shelf beside the greatest classics: Back to the Future, The Goonies, Wargames, Weird Science, etc ...I'm not going to recap the movie or give my interpretation on the movie. Everything is relative. I really enjoyed this movie as a kid and I'm going to watch it right now (I'm 28 btw). Check it out.Val Kilmer does an amazing job in this movie. He's such a confident and amusing actor. If you're a fan of Val Kilmer as I am then you're going to enjoy this movie.I agree with the last comment made on this movie. I could watch this movie every day.Enjoy!