Real Genius | | Cast : | Val Kilmer | | Director : | Martha Coolidge | | Studio : | Columbia Tristar Hom | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | August 07, 1985 | | DVD Released Date : | September 13, 2005 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 02, 2005 | | Summary | A must see!!! | Content
 | This is such a great movie. It's a very 80's movie, but who doesn't like them. There are some sexual conintations, but their not too bad. And who can forget the guy who lives in the dorm closet? |
| Rating | | | Date | July 06, 2005 | | Summary | "Welcome To Pacific Tech's Smart People On Ice!" | Content
| Prof: "Why do you wear that toy on your head?"
Chris Knight: "Because if I wear it anywhere else, it chafes. ... I didn't what to seem too stuffy. Y'know, all brains, no penis."
Man: "You are Chris Knight aren't you?"
Chris: "I hope so. I'm wearing his underwear."
'I remember the immortal words of Socrates who said, "I drank WHAT?"'
"This? This is ice. This is what happens to water when it gets too cold. This? This is Kent. This is what happens to people when they get too sexually frustrated."
There are so many really good memorable one-liners, as well as visual effects (re: bunny and crow slippers and an 'I "heart" Toxic Waste' t-shirt, etc.) in this film that it's hard to recall them all... and Val Kilmer delivers most of them himself with perfect timing. He seemed so natural that you forget he's acting... and isn't that the mark of a good actor. Unfortunately for the rest of us, and in this reviewers eyes his best role to date.
Along with another '80's "B" comedy, Running Scared (I wish that Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines had done more comedies together while Hines was still alive,) Real Genius is one of my all time favorite movies, though "Genius" has a much better ending. It's so watchable and re-watchable. I've seen it literally hundreds of times myself. It's an intelligently written and performed little comedy, Real Genius has since become an icon. It contains both the subtle and the non-subtle. Though dated, the script, which is very well written, and most of the soundtrack holds up well under the test of time, I think.
Without the advent of HBO and Cinemax in the '80's that played it over and over and over, this film might have been missed by many, including this reviewer. Though expensive for a twenty year old movie, it is well worth it in my opinion. You won't be sorry unless you insist on something totally mindless to watch.
There are lots of movies that fit that description. If so, don't see Real Genius.
I hope this review helps you, and Good Luck with your own dreams.
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| Rating | | | Date | May 14, 2005 | | Summary | Does ANYONE know if there is a musical soundtrack for this m | Content
| DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THERE IS A MUSICAL SOUNDTRACK FOR movie "Real Genius," starring Val Kilmer?
The music on this film is excellent and I would love to know where I could get a copy of a musical soundtrack. Your help is greatly appreciated.
davethewaveiam@hotmail.com |
| Rating | | | Date | April 24, 2005 | | Summary | It's a laser beam, Bozo!! But what's it for? | Content
| The best movies, in my opinion, are not merely entertainment. The best ones also make you think about the deeper questions in life. "Real Genius" is a triumph in this regard- it's funny, it's got a good story, there's tons of memorable dialogue, and it does make you think.
In this film, a group of college kids at Pacific Tech are working on a powerful laser, and their supervising professor plans to sell it to the government. One thing that really rings true here is that the kids don't really realize WHY such a laser might be dangerous in the wrong hands- all they really want to do is make it work!
And this is the essential failure of scientists. We invent something because it can be invented, and we pretend that moral issues aren't relevant.
This is a hilarious movie, and I think it's one of Val Kilmer's best, and it really does make you think a bit. There are a lot of college kids out there, working under a research professor, who don't stop to think about the practical implications of their research. Hopefully this movie helped some of them to wake up. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 20, 2005 | | Summary | A 1980's cult comedy classic... | Content
| The breakout film for Val Kilmer's career, Real Genius is one of the first films to portray the "nerd" as someone cool rather than as the taped-glasses, plaid pants cliché that dominated most of the 1980s. Evolving over time into a cult classic, this can be classified as more of a generational film. Most of the people I know who grew up in the 1980s have seen it. As such, it meets the criteria to be defined as a must see movie...
When fourteen-year-old Mitch Taylor (Gabriel Jarret) receives entrance into a highly prestigious college program at Pacific Tech, he's put to work by his mentor Professor Jerry Hathaway (William Atherton) on a highly experimental and difficult project - the development of a specific type of laser. But Mitch's studies are hindered by his more laid back roommate, Chris Knight (Val Kilmer), who would rather use his genius brain to have fun rather than be used by people. Explaining that he used to be just like Mitch, he one day learned that you can't through all of life with your nose in a book.
Garnering great influence with Mitch, Chris and the rest of the students engage in some crafty shenanigans (such as turning the dorm room floor to ice - ice that turns from solid to liquid). But Chris and Mitch are foiled by the Prof. Hathaway kiss-up, loser Kent Torokvei (Robert Prescott) who is always shadowing their activities and telling Hathaway. When Mitch meets up with Jordan (Michelle Meyrink) at an auditorium where the orchestra pit has been turned into a pool, the two develop a romance. But the party is crashed by Hathaway who threatens to send Mitch home.
With the military applying pressure on Hathaway to complete the laser project, he threatens to fail Chris. With Chris and Mitch working around the clock, the project makes great progress. But the team has to enlist the help of Lazlo Hollyfeld (Jon Gries), an eccentric former student who lives in their closet, before they make the breakthrough discovery that gives them an operational laser.
Celebrating out on the town, the team ponders the implications of the laser they have created. Realizing that it will be used for assassinations, they run back to lab only to find the laser missing. When they unleash a plan to get revenge on Prof. Hathaway, Kent and the professor's house become part of a great popcorn experiment...
Rife with a number of hilarious scenes, one of the more hilarious is when Mitch, Chris, Jordan, and their friend Ick gas Kent and insert a microphone in his mouth. They then speak to Kent, pretending to be God. The entire movie is worth that scene alone, but there are countless others in this popular teen classic. If you like clever comedy, Real Genius is one film that can't miss...
The DVD Report |
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