Val Kilmer,
Gabe Jarret,
Michelle Meyrink,
William Atherton,
Jon Gries
... see more 
Martha Coolidge directed this comedy taking place at fictional Pacific Tech, concerning incoming freshman Mitch (Gabe Jarret), a high school student whose Science Fair project made important inroads i... read more
Directed by: Martha Coolidge
Release Date: August 1, 1985
Keywords:
80's,
val kilmer,
real genius,
chris knight,
sun-god robes,
Val Kilmer ,
Real Genius ,
Chris Knight ,
William Atherton
DVD Release Date: June 11, 2002
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Stats: 1,738 reviews
Your Rating
Flixster Reviews (1,738)
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September 27, 2011REAL GENIUS is a ridiculous, barely funny "teen flick" wannabe that makes John Hughes toss in his grave. If you want a real funny, real genius teen comedy that has the true comical power of Hughes (R.I.P), watch WEIRD SCIENCE. It's better delight.
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January 20, 2011This is one of those movies that I wake up one morning and just want to watch, an old faithful if you will. Val Kilmer gives one of his best performances, whether he wants to admit it or not, as Chris Knight, a once was child prodigy who has all the social graces of a man who rea... read more
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January 19, 2011A funny movies about nerds, I like it better than Revenge of the Nerds, except that it has Kilmer, who's not that good an actor, but overall, it's a funny movie and I enjoyed it.
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January 7, 2010Quite funny and I just wanted to see this movie because it reminded me alot from my childhood. Young Val Kilmer and the young japanese guy from Karate Kid 2 jeje.
Mitch is one of the youngest students ever accepted to a university known for its programs for geniuses. He's part... read more -
October 13, 2007When he makes his house explode with popcorn, you remember why it's so good.
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August 12, 2007A fun geek science film with girls and gadgets. I like the huge popcorn machine they invented. Val Kilmer is lots of fun as the older student teaching his new 15-year old dorm pal that there's more to life than science. They are unknowingly being used to develop a weapon for the ... read more
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Critic Reviews
May 30, 2007
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
May 30, 2007
Variety
What lifts the production above the run-of-the-mill is swift direction by Martha Coolidge, who has a firm grasp over the manic material. Full Review
May 20, 2003
Janet Maslin, New York Times
What the film needs, instead of these familiar teen-movie trappings, is a cleverness and eccentricity to match that of its characters. For the most part, these are qualities that it lacks. Full Review
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Real Genius contains many pleasures, but one of the best is its conviction that the American campus contains life as we know it. Full Review
May 30, 2007
TV Guide's Movie Guide
This disappointing teen comedy from director Martha Coolidge is another entry in the rash of teens-goofing-with-science films. Full Review
June 24, 2006
Geoff Andrew, Time Out
It does make you wonder if the drive of the US education system is ultimately to develop better weapons of mass-destruction, though Coolidge's movie is too hazily good-natured to capitalise on the tou... Full Review
October 13, 2005
James Sanford, Kalamazoo Gazette
great fun and full of 1980s relics, from the now-antiquated computers to the box of Donkey Kong cereal to a finale set to Tears for Fears... Full Review
April 18, 2005
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
goofy and very funny
October 19, 2004
Steve Crum, Kansas City Kansan
Young Kilmer in no-brainer comedy
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Real Genius
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