Real Genius

Last updated
Real Genius
Real genius.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Martha Coolidge
Screenplay by
Story by
  • Neal Israel
  • Pat Proft
Produced by Brian Grazer
Starring
Cinematography Vilmos Zsigmond
Edited byRichard Chew
Music by Thomas Newman
Production
company
Delphi III Productions
Distributed by Tri-Star Pictures
Release date
  • August 7, 1985 (1985-08-07)
Running time
106 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$8 million [1]
Box office$13 million (North America) [2]

Real Genius is a 1985 American science fiction comedy film directed by Martha Coolidge, written by Neal Israel, Pat Proft, and PJ Torokvei, and starring Val Kilmer and Gabriel Jarret. The film, set on the campus of Pacific Tech, a science and engineering university similar to Caltech, follows Chris Knight (Kilmer), a genius in his senior year, who is paired with a new student on campus, Mitch Taylor (Jarret), to work on a chemical laser, only to learn it will be used for dangerous purposes.

Contents

The film received positive reviews from critics, and grossed $13 million at the North American box office. [2]

Plot

The CIA has covertly hired Professor Jerry Hathaway at Pacific Tech University to develop the power source for "Crossbow", a laser weapon precise enough to commit illegal political assassinations from outer space. Hathaway uses his position to recruit brilliant students to do the work for him, diverting the CIA's funding into building his enormous house.

Hathaway recruits high school student Mitch Taylor, a budding genius in laser physics. Mitch is roomed with Chris Knight, a legend in the "National Physics Club" and one of Mitch's idols. Mitch's ideal of Chris is shattered, however, when Chris turns out to be more of a slacker than a hard-working student. Meanwhile, Hathaway hopes Mitch will encourage Chris to straighten up his act and that their two exceptional minds can develop a proper power source for "Crossbow". Mitch also befriends Jordan Cochran, a hyperactive insomniac student for whom he gradually develops romantic feelings.

Kent, Hathaway's graduate student (and toady), reports Mitch for attending a pool party with Chris instead of working on the laser. Hathaway lambasts Mitch, who breaks down and tearfully calls his parents. Kent secretly records the call and uses the recording to humiliate Mitch. As Mitch begins packing to leave, Chris explains the pressures of school and burdens of being highly intelligent by relating the history of genius and former Pacific Tech student Lazlo Hollyfeld. Hollyfeld suffered a nervous breakdown when he discovered his creations were being used to kill, and he now lives hidden in the university's tunnels, accessed from beneath Chris and Mitch's closet. Chris, fearing the same could happen to him, learned to lighten up and enjoy life. Mitch agrees to stay, and they exact revenge on Kent by disassembling his car, a 1972 Citroën DS, and reassembling it in his dorm room.

Hathaway, angry about the still-incomplete project and Chris's attitude, informs Chris that he intends to prevent him from earning a degree, blackball him, and give a coveted job, originally promised to Chris, to Kent instead. Chris is disheartened and Mitch must use Chris's same argument to convince him to stay. The two create a new laser, but Kent sabotages it, causing it to explode. Though initially despondent, the incident inspires Chris to design and build a six-megawatt excimer laser, which burns a hole through the campus when it is test-fired. Hathaway reverses his position, giving Chris a degree and the job. As Chris and Mitch celebrate, Hollyfeld arrives and informs them that, with certain modifications, their laser could be used as a weapon. A panicked Chris returns to the lab to find the laser gone, as well as Kent's projects: a mirror and a tracking system which together can weaponize Chris's laser.

Jordan and fellow project member "Ick" Ikagami surreptitiously implant a radio transmitter in Kent's braces, which Mitch uses to convince him he is speaking to Jesus. Kent divulges the date of the test, and the group tails Hathaway to learn the location of the Air Force base the CIA is using. Chris and Mitch sneak onto the B-1 Lancer bomber where their equipment has been installed and assist Hollyfeld in reprogramming the laser.

Outside Hathaway's home, Chris, Mitch, Jordan, and Ick meet Dean Meredith and a Congressman, to whom they had reported Hathaway's plan. Kent arrives unexpectedly and goes inside the house. The laser test begins and, instead of firing on the target, the laser fires on Hathaway's house, activating a gigantic popcorn popper. Kent is launched out the front door on a popcorn wave. Hollyfeld arrives in an RV—which he has won using mathematics to rig a sweepstakes—to tell them he is leaving. Hathaway, who hates popcorn, arrives afterwards to find his house destroyed by popcorn.

Cast

Production

To prepare for Real Genius, Martha Coolidge spent months researching laser technology and the policies of the CIA, and interviewed dozens of students at Caltech. [3] The screenplay was extensively rewritten, first by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, later by Coolidge and PJ Torokvei. [4]

Producer Brian Grazer remembers that when Val Kilmer came in to audition for the role of Chris Knight, he brought candy bars and performed tricks. Kilmer remembered it differently. "The character wasn't polite, so when I shook Grazer's hand and he said, 'Hi, I'm the producer,' I said, 'I'm sorry. You look like you're 12 years old. I like to work with men.'" [5]

To achieve the house filled with popcorn for the film's climax, the production team popped popcorn continuously for three months. The popcorn was treated with fire retardant so it would not combust and covered so that it would not be eaten by birds and possibly poison them. The popcorn was then shipped to a subdivision under construction in Canyon Country, northwest of Los Angeles, and placed in the house. [6]

To promote the film, the studio held what it billed as "the world's first computer press conference", with Coolidge and Grazer answering journalists' questions via computer terminals and relayed over the CompuServe online service. [7]

The dorm in the film is based on Dabney House at Caltech, and Caltech students served as consultants and played extras in the film. [8]

Reception

Box office

Real Genius was released on August 9, 1985, in 990 theaters, grossing $2.5 million in its first weekend. It went on to make $12,952,019 in North America. [2]

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 77% based on 35 reviews with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "It follows college tropes, but Real Genius has an optimistic streak that puts you on Val Kilmer's side all the way." [9] On Metacritic, the film received a score of 71 based on 15 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [10]

Colin Greenland reviewed the film for White Dwarf #85, and stated that it was "yet another celebration of the anxious wonder of growing up white, middle-class and heterosexual in America. The lovable weirdos squabble in the lab, play hi-tech pranks in the dorm and party in the lecture theater. Nerds just wanna have fun. Nerds have feelings too. Hug a Nerd today." [11]

In her review for The New York Times , Janet Maslin wrote, "the film is best when it takes [the students] seriously, though it does so only intermittently." [12] David Ansen wrote in his review for Newsweek , "When it's good, the dormitory high jinks feel like the genuine release of teen-age tensions and cruelty. Too bad the story isn't as smart as the kids in it." [13] In her review for The Washington Post , Rita Kempley wrote, "Many of the scenes, already badly written, fail to fulfill their screwball potential... [D]espite its enthusiastic young cast and its many good intentions, it doesn't quite succeed. I guess there's a leak in the think tank." [14]

Chicago Sun Times film critic Roger Ebert awarded the film three and a half stars out of four, saying that it "contains many pleasures, but one of the best is its conviction that the American campus contains life as we know it." [15] In his review for The Globe and Mail , Salem Alaton wrote, "Producer Brian Grazer craved a feel-good picture, and she [Martha Coolidge] turned in the summer's best, and she didn't cheat to do it. There's heart in the kookiness. Real Genius has real people, real comedy and real fun." [16] Richard Schickel of Time praised the film for being "a smart, no-nonsense movie that may actually teach its prime audience a valuable lesson: the best retort to an intolerable situation is not necessarily a food fight. Better results, and more fun, come from rubbing a few brains briskly together." [17]

Scientific accuracy

In the MythBusters episode "Car vs. Rain", first broadcast on June 17, 2009, the MythBusters team tried to determine whether the final scene in the film, the destruction of Dr Hathaway's house with laser-popped popcorn, is actually possible. First they used a ten-watt laser to pop a single kernel wrapped in aluminum foil, showing that popping corn is possible with a laser. Then they tested a scaled-down model of a house. The popcorn was popped through induction heating because a sufficiently large laser was not available. The result was that the popcorn was unable to expand sufficiently to break glass, much less break open a door or move the house off its foundation. Instead, it ceased to expand and then simply charred. [18]

It was also specifically stated in the program that a five-megawatt laser still did not exist, even in military applications, and that the most powerful military laser they knew of was 100 kilowatts. [18]

In January 2011, it was further demonstrated on video [19] in a home setting that a kernel of corn directly exposed to laser light from accessible consumer level lasers could be popped as reported by TechCrunch. [20]

The solid xenon-halogen laser proposed and built by Chris in the latter half of the film, though in the realm of science fiction, was based on a theory of the time. Real Genius, through consultant Martin A. Gundersen, who played the math professor, was later cited in an academic publication that detailed the scientific basis behind the laser. [21]

Television series

Reports surfaced in September 2014 that a potential television series was in the works. [22] NBC was set to produce the comedy series with Sony TV, Happy Madison and 3 Arts Entertainment. [23] As of December 2017 there were no updates on the production.

Related Research Articles

<i>Batman Forever</i> 1995 film directed by Joel Schumacher

Batman Forever is a 1995 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character Batman by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. It is the third installment of Warner Bros.' initial Batman film series and a sequel to Batman Returns. Directed by Joel Schumacher and produced by Tim Burton, it stars Val Kilmer as Bruce Wayne / Batman, replacing Michael Keaton, alongside Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, and Chris O'Donnell. The film follows Batman as he attempts to prevent Two-Face and the Riddler from uncovering his secret identity and extracting information from the minds of Gotham City's residents, while at the same time navigating his feelings for psychologist Dr. Chase Meridian and adopting orphaned acrobat Dick Grayson—who becomes his partner, Robin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Val Kilmer</span> American actor (born 1959)

Val Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, he found fame after appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! (1984) and Real Genius (1985), as well as the military action film Top Gun (1986) and the fantasy film Willow (1988). Kilmer gained acclaim for his portrayal of Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's The Doors (1991). He was cast as a main character in films such as the western Tombstone (1993), and the crime dramas True Romance (1993) and Heat (1995). He portrayed Batman in Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever (1995), and continued to star in films such as The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), The Saint (1997), The Prince of Egypt (1998), Alexander (2004), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), and The Snowman (2017). In 2022, Kilmer reprised his role as Iceman in Top Gun: Maverick (2022).

<i>Top Gun</i> 1986 film directed by Tony Scott

Top Gun is a 1986 American action drama film directed by Tony Scott and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, with distribution by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr., and was inspired by an article titled "Top Guns", written by Ehud Yonay and published in California magazine three years earlier. It stars Tom Cruise as Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a young naval aviator aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. He and his radar intercept officer, Lieutenant Nick "Goose" Bradshaw, are given the chance to train at the United States Navy's Fighter Weapons School at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California. Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer and Tom Skerritt also appear in supporting roles.

<i>Tombstone</i> (film) 1993 film by George P. Cosmatos

Tombstone is a 1993 American Western film directed by George P. Cosmatos, written by Kevin Jarre, and starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer, with Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, Powers Boothe, Michael Biehn, and Dana Delany in supporting roles, as well as narration by Robert Mitchum.

<i>The Doors</i> (film) 1991 biographical film directed by Oliver Stone

The Doors is a 1991 American biographical film directed by Oliver Stone and written by Stone and Randall Jahnson. It is based on the history of American rock band the Doors and their influence on music and counterculture. The film stars Val Kilmer as singer Jim Morrison, Meg Ryan as Morrison's girlfriend Pamela Courson, Kyle MacLachlan as keyboardist Ray Manzarek, Frank Whaley as lead guitarist Robby Krieger, Kevin Dillon as drummer John Densmore, Billy Idol as Cat, and Kathleen Quinlan as journalist Patricia Kennealy.

<i>The Real McCoy</i> (film) 1993 American film

The Real McCoy is a 1993 American heist crime film, directed by Russell Mulcahy and starring Kim Basinger, Val Kilmer and Terence Stamp.

<i>The Salton Sea</i> (2002 film) 2002 American film

The Salton Sea is a 2002 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by D. J. Caruso and starring Val Kilmer and Vincent D'Onofrio.

<i>Red Planet</i> (film) 2000 film by Antony Hoffman

Red Planet is a 2000 science fiction action film directed by Antony Hoffman. The film stars Val Kilmer, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Tom Sizemore.

<i>The Saint</i> (1997 film) 1997 American thriller film

The Saint is a 1997 American action thriller film directed by Phillip Noyce, written by Jonathan Hensleigh and Wesley Strick, and starring Val Kilmer in the title role, with Elisabeth Shue and Rade Šerbedžija. The plot of the film revolves around the title character who is a high-tech thief and master of disguise, who becomes the anti-hero while using the moniker of various saints. He paradoxically lives in the underworld of international industrial theft and espionage. The film was a modest financial success with a worldwide box office of $169.4 million, rentals of $28.2 million, and continuous DVD sales.

Gabriel Jarret is an American actor. He began his career in 1981. He is best known for his role as the young genius Mitch Taylor in the 1985 comedy film Real Genius in which he co-starred with Val Kilmer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Rossovich</span> American actor

Frederic Enrico Rossovich is an American actor. Rossovich began acting in the early 1980s, first gaining recognition for portraying Ron "Slider" Kerner in the 1986 film Top Gun. Rossovich's other movies include the thriller-drama The Lords of Discipline (1983), the sex comedy Losin' It (1983), the science fiction film The Terminator (1984), the romantic comedy Roxanne (1987), the witchcraft-themed thriller Spellbinder (1988), the thriller Paint It Black (1989), the military action film Navy SEALs (1990), and the Disney Channel Original Movie Miracle in Lane 2 (2002). Rossovich is also recognized for his lead role in the TV-series Pacific Blue, often described as a "Baywatch on bikes," which ran on the USA Network for five seasons between March 1996 and April 2000, and also gained popularity abroad. He also portrayed Dr. John Taglieri in the first season of ER, and Spud Lincoln in the CBS series Sons and Daughters (1991).

<i>The NeverEnding Story</i> (film) 1984 film directed by Wolfgang Petersen

The NeverEnding Story is a 1984 fantasy film, co-written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, based on the 1979 novel The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. It was produced by Bernd Eichinger and Dieter Giessler, and stars Noah Hathaway, Barret Oliver, Tami Stronach, Patricia Hayes, Sydney Bromley, Gerald McRaney and Moses Gunn, with Alan Oppenheimer providing the voices of Falkor, Gmork, and others. It follows a boy who finds a magical book that tells of a young warrior who is given the task of stopping the Nothing, a dark force, from engulfing the wonderland world of Fantasia.

<i>Wonderland</i> (2003 film) 2003 American crime and drama film by James Cox

Wonderland is a 2003 American crime drama film, co-written and directed by James Cox and based on the real-life Wonderland Murders that occurred in 1981. The film stars Val Kilmer, Kate Bosworth, Dylan McDermott, Carrie Fisher, Lisa Kudrow, Josh Lucas, Christina Applegate, Tim Blake Nelson, and Janeane Garofalo. Kilmer plays the role of John Holmes, a famous pornographic film star and suspected accomplice in four grisly murders committed in a house at 8763 Wonderland Avenue, in the Laurel Canyon section of Los Angeles. The film uses a nonlinear Rashomon-style narrative structure to present conflicting accounts of the murders from differing perspectives.

Lazlo Hollyfeld is an American art rock band from Buffalo, New York.

<i>Masked and Anonymous</i> 2003 American film

Masked and Anonymous is a 2003 drama film directed by Larry Charles. The film was written by Larry Charles and Bob Dylan, the latter under the pseudonym "Sergei Petrov". It stars Dylan alongside a star-heavy cast, including John Goodman, Jeff Bridges, Penélope Cruz, Val Kilmer, Mickey Rourke, Jessica Lange, Luke Wilson, Angela Bassett, Bruce Dern, Cheech Marin, Ed Harris, Chris Penn, Steven Bauer, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Paul Chan, Christian Slater, and Fred Ward.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">One Night Love Affair</span> 1985 single by Bryan Adams

"One Night Love Affair" is a song by Canadian singer and songwriter Bryan Adams. Written by Adams and Jim Vallance for Adams's fourth studio album, Reckless (1984), it was the fifth single released from the album. It is one of Adams's most recognizable and popular songs in North America. The song peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #7 on the Top Rock Tracks chart and has appeared on Adams's compilation album Anthology (2005). It was the only single taken from Reckless with no music video, among the six that were officially released between 1984 and 1986.

Neal Israel is an American film and television director, screenwriter, and producer best known for his comedic work in the 1980s for films such as Police Academy, Real Genius, and Bachelor Party. Israel has also directed episodes for several TV shows, including The Fresh Beat Band, Lizzie McGuire, Zeke and Luther, Dog with a Blog, and I Didn't Do It.

<i>The Island of Dr. Moreau</i> (1996 film) 1996 American film by John Frankenheimer

The Island of Dr. Moreau is a 1996 American science fiction horror film, based on the 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells. It was directed by John Frankenheimer and stars Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer, David Thewlis, and Fairuza Balk. The screenplay is credited to the original director Richard Stanley and Ron Hutchinson. It is the third major film adaptation of the Wells novel, following Island of Lost Souls (1932) and The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977).

The college rivalry between the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) stems from the colleges' reputations as the top science and engineering schools in the United States. The rivalry is unusual given the geographic distance between the schools, one being in Pasadena, California, and the other in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as well as its focus on elaborate pranks rather than sporting events.

<i>Palo Alto</i> (2013 film) 2013 American film

Palo Alto is a 2013 American drama film written and directed by Gia Coppola, based on James Franco's 2010 short story collection of the same name. The film stars Franco alongside Emma Roberts, Jack Kilmer, Nat Wolff and Zoe Levin. It concerns a group of disaffected teenagers in a California suburb dealing with lust, boredom, and self-destruction. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on August 29, 2013 and later had a limited theatrical release on May 9, 2014.

References

  1. ↑ "Real Genius (1985)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute . Retrieved 25 May 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 "Real Genius". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved 25 May 2009.
  3. ↑ Attanasio, Paul (August 7, 1985). "The Road to Hollywood: Director Martha Coolidge's Long Trek to Real Genius". The Washington Post .
  4. ↑ Attanasio, Paul (August 7, 1985). "Fun With the Whiz Kids". The Washington Post .
  5. ↑ Ascher-Walsh, Rebecca (June 30, 1995). "Cool Hero: Val Kilmer". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 2, 2009.
  6. ↑ Ryan, Kyle (April 21, 2010). "Random Roles: William Atherton". The Onion A.V. Club. Retrieved April 21, 2010.
  7. ↑ Deans, Laurie (August 2, 1985). "Howard, Keaton hope to make a splash". The Globe and Mail .
  8. ↑ "Erich Schneider". 2012-10-31. Archived from the original on 2012-10-31. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  9. ↑ "Real Genius (1985)". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  10. ↑ "Real Genius (1985)". Metacritic . Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  11. ↑ Greenland, Colin (December 1987). "2020 Vision". White Dwarf (85). Games Workshop: 6.
  12. ↑ Maslin, Janet (August 7, 1985). "Real Genius". The New York Times . Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  13. ↑ Ansen, David (August 26, 1985). "Hollywood's Silly Season". Newsweek .
  14. ↑ Kempley, Rita (August 9, 1985). "Real Genius Reels, Falls". The Washington Post .
  15. ↑ Ebert, Roger (August 7, 1985). "Real Genius". RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  16. ↑ Alaton, Salem (August 12, 1985). "This time the teen antics are funny Real Genius is a real gem". The Globe and Mail .
  17. ↑ Schickel, Richard (August 12, 1985). "Guess Who Flunked the IQ Test?". Time . Archived from the original on March 28, 2008. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  18. 1 2 "Car vs. Rain". MythBusters. Season 2009. Episode 11. June 17, 2009. Discovery Channel. Archived from the original on March 7, 2010. Retrieved December 24, 2010.
  19. ↑ Stevenson, Scott, Arctic Lasers Pop Popcorn - Pocket Blue Lasers Popping Popcorn, archived from the original on 2021-12-12
  20. ↑ Burns, Matt (Jan 14, 2011), Popping Popcorn With Lasers Is Awesome And Healthy
  21. ↑ Fajardo, Mario E.; Apkarian, V. A. (1987-02-13), "Simulated Radiative Dissociation and Gain Measurements of Xe2Cl in Solid Xenon" (PDF), Chemical Physics Letters, 134 (1), chem.ps.uci.edu: 51, Bibcode:1987CPL...134...51F, doi:10.1016/0009-2614(87)80012-x — Citation number 7 on p. 54 in the paper (on p. 4 in PDF).
  22. ↑ Michael Kennedy (25 September 2014). "'Real Genius' TV Series in Development)". Screenrant. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  23. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (24 September 2014). "'Real Genius' Movie Reboot Set As NBC Comedy Series With Happy Madison & Sony TV". Deadline.com. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.