Alexa: “Real Genius” is so very 80s, and I mean that as both a compliment and critique. It’s pure camp, which provides a lot of fun moments but also some truly cringe-worthy ones (like when a grown woman sneaks into a dorm room to try to sleep with a 15-year-old and no one finds this remotely concerning?!). And sure, the technology is as dated as the film’s tone, but the camaraderie among the students is timeless and easily the best part of the movie. Going into “Real Genius” I wasn’t too sure about Val Kilmer playing one of the country’s most brilliant young minds, but he effortlessly leans into his character’s eccentricity and steals the whole movie. Whenever Kilmer wasn’t on screen, I was waiting impatiently for him to come back. His performance is a delight. But for a movie about genius teens, I wish the story had been a bit cleverer. I wasn’t nearly as invested in the plot as I was in the characters. The military weapon angle pales in comparison to the characters’ interactions and hijinks, which would lend themselves perfectly to more of a “Wet Hot American Summer”-style approach to life on a campus inhabited by super smart people.
Chris: I was afraid this movie wasn’t going to hold up as well as it did because I remember really enjoying this movie years ago. What I do like about this movie is that it doesn’t completely focus on Mitch as a main character but he instead serves as the audience’s entry point into the world Real Genius creates. There were moments where I felt Val Kilmer was chewing the scenery a bit but it wasn’t enough to disrupt the movie and instead was a good balance to the slower points of Real Genius.
Jason: There is so much to enjoy about this movie. It truly looks like they had fun on set. It shines through everyone’s performance. What really tickled my fancy, though was the underlying accuracy of it. They took some pretty steep liberties with some of the science, but on the whole, most of it was correct. The director, Martha Coolidge, insisted that the terminology and basic premises be accurate, so much so that she and the actors took months long courses on laser technology. Another aspect that was fascinating is that most of the campus pranks displayed through the film are based on actual events that have taken place at highly intellectual colleges. Some of these include finding a running car inside a dorm room and the whole “Smart People on Ice” bit.
I wonder what a modern remake of this film would look like. The “secretly developing a super weapon for the military” angle is very much a product of the 80s. I’m not sure there would be a good analog for today’s cultural climate.
My only real question is this: wouldn’t a laser that powerful just burn straight through a mirror, this rendering the whole set-up useless?
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