Real Genius (1985)

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

There was a time and place for movies like this, but even during my younger years I managed to avoid pictures this pointless. The dialog is witty at times, I'll grant that, but it sort of loses it's punch the closer we get to transforming the laser project into a military weapon. Val Kilmer looks so young in this film that I had to look up his stats here on IMDb. This was in fact his very first starring movie role, but a far cry from the performance he delivered as Doc Holliday in "Tombstone". My primary reason in watching this movie was it's presence on IMDb's Top 250 list way back in it's very first year of 1996. I'm finding that the early years of IMDb were influenced pretty heavily by an audience that thought "Up in Smoke", "Dazed and Confused" and "Cheech and Chong's Next Movie" were cinematic masterpieces. With a goal of watching and reviewing all of them, it's going to be a formidable task. If I catch a break, there might even be a good one in there.

This is probably the best of the three big "science" films that hit the theatres in the summer of 1985. Well shot, lots of production values, and just fairly epic in scope compared to the other two films ("My Science Project" and "Weird Science"). The film focuses on a real dilemma some students who major in the hard sciences find themselves before or during graduation. If their genius is recognized, then they might be hired or otherwise lured to work on research that may have consequences. There's wit, there's romance, there's intrigue, there's a kind of "legendary" status injected into the film in the form of a character who reminds me of many a former student burnout that hangs around the outskirts of the UC Berkeley campus. I remember the making of documentary for this movie, and being curious about all of the strange stuff they were doing to get the film accomplished. It made me want to see it, and when I did I was genuinely entertained. A recap, "My Science Project" was an adventure film. "Weird Science" was a comedy for teenage boys. "Real Genius" was truly a film about university science students with a moral and genuine humor. And I guess that's why I tend to remember this film over the other two. 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.

I remember seeing this movie many years ago and really enjoying it. So this year I watched it again and may I say, "Wow!". It was just as good as the first time I saw it many years ago. It was truly a huge blast of nostalgia. I truly did enjoy this movie, it's a reminder of how comedy should be these days. 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". All in all, this is a great classic but, sadly forgotten 80s film, it's probably my favorite film of the 80s and definitely ranks in my Top 5 Favorite Films of All Time. Real Genius: 10/10

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!