Movie review: ‘Real Genius’

FloridaGator80

You know, there can actually be a good comedy about college students without having to reach into the R-rated barrel of tricks, such as profane but completely hilarious humor in “Road Trip” (click here to read my review) or what you find in that back-in-the-day college funfest “Revenge of the Nerds” (click here to read my review) – much less than the all-time classic college flick “National Lampoon’s Animal House.” The best example I can find is in “Real Genius,” which is a college coming-of-age tale that blends humor with science and a bit of anti-military vandalism. It’s not too difficult to find, but you’ll have fun when you do. Val Kilmer is very good here and you’ll enjoy him doing a bit of comedy (almost as good as he was in “Top Secret!” – click here to read my review).

‘Real Genius’
(1985; 108 minutes; rated PG; directed by Martha Coolidge and starring Val Kilmer, Gabriel Jarret and Michelle Meyrink)

TRUE INTELLECT EVOLVES INTO TRUE REVENGE

(NOTE: I updated links in this review on July 16, 2016. I then expanded the review with additional opinion, trivia and the updating of links on Nov. 30, 2019. I again expanded the review on April 2, 2025, and noted the death of Val Kilmer.)

The early 1980s were fertile ground for lowbrow, raunchy comedy aimed at the high school and college crowds. From 1980’s “Caddyshack” (golf) to 1982’s “Porky’s” (high school – click here to read my review) to 1984’s “Revenge of the Nerds” (college) and even to the cult favorite “Bachelor Party” with Tom Hanks in 1984 (twentysomethings – click here for my review), they all had the raunchy factor.

However, you can get lots of laughs without the raunch if you check out “Real Genius” – it has some stereotypical college hijinks like putting a car in a dorm room as well as the unusual in how to destroy a house with popcorn (a trick that doesn’t work according to TV’s “MythBusters” in a test). Supersmart nerds would find a more popular home with TV’s “The Big Bang Theory” (click here for my look at the series), but it’s not the same as “Real Genius.”

“Real Genius” is the story of an honors student (“Mitch Taylor,” played by Gabriel Jarret) who heads off to college early to work with a celebrated scientist’s team at an elite university (“Pacific Tech” – and not the real Pacific Institute of Technology in Atlanta or the acclaimed California Institute of Technology – “Caltech”). The scientist (“Prof. Jerry Hathaway,” played by William Atherton) is self-involved arrogant jerk and he’s moving forward with a government laser program to develop a space-based weapon. He needs the brightest minds and has added one to his stable, but is not telling anyone the true purpose of his work.

The young student is paired with a graduating senior (“Chris Knight,” played by Val Kilmer). The senior is top dog on the research team, bit is having something of a senior year crisis and soon embroils the younger student in some foolish, comical escapades. The two team up to take the laser project to where, unknown to them, the military needs it to go. Along the way are those inevitable hijinks, problems, a personal crisis and just about everything else.

The students finally find out that the professor is underhandedly using them to develop a weapon and have to do their own mission to spoil the weapon while getting even with the professor. Well, there’s a little more detail, but you get the picture.

As for some of the actors and their work …

  • Kilmer does a really nice job here. He’s in only his second film (after “Top Secret!”) and the next year he’d hit the heights as “Lt. Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazanski” in Tom Cruise’s megahit “Top Gun.” However, Kilmer does the college boy role nicely and I’m sure you would have liked hanging out with him if he had been your classmate. Kilmer was also in “Heat” with Al Pacino (click here to read my review), “The Doors,” “Tombstone” and “Batman Forever.” I still have to confess that I like him best in the spoof comedy “Top Secret!” (click here to read my review). Kilmer died April 1, 2025, of pneumonia at 65.
  • Jarret, who is listed in credits as “Gabe” and has also used his birth name “Gabriel Kronsberg,” does a good job as the angst-afflicted teen thrust into a college world. He does a wonderful turn being amazed and enthralled by Kilmer while also conveying his vulnerability because of his age. Jarret has also been in “Apollo 13” as well as “Frost/Nixon” and “The American President.”
  • Atherton pretty much has the slimeball character down pat. You can count on him to do a really wonderful job of it and “Real Genius” is no exception. His portrayal of the arrogant, egotistical professor is spot-on. Atherton is money in the bank if you want an audience to hiss anytime they see a character on screen. Atherton was the vapid reporter in “Die Hard” (click here for my review) and its first sequel as well as the stressed out bad guy in “Ghostbusters.” His lesser remembered films include “Bio-Dome” as well as a number of TV credits, including “Castle.”
  • The best supporting performance is by Robert Prescott as the obsequious “Kent,” who is always kissing up to Atherton. Prescott is fun to watch as he is easily put down by the much cooler Kilmer and is hysterical as he talks to “God” after Kilmer and his friends install a transmitter in his braces. He much better played the preppy fool who was the target of Hanks’ ire in “Bachelor Party.” Prescott has also been in “Spaceballs,” “The Bourne Legacy” and “Michael Clayton.”
  • It’s too bad that Deborah Foreman’s character “Susan Decker” was so small and didn’t allow her to flex her acting muscles. Small? Miniscule would be a better term, but she is very watchable with those few lines. Foreman was the lead in “Valley Girl” with Nic Cage and could have done much better with expanded time on screen. As it is, she does the vamp very well considering her tiny amount of screen time. Foreman was also in the well-received “My Chauffeur” and “April Fool’s Day.” She stepped back from acting in 1995 after only 25 credits and has since appeared in only one film (and that was in 2008).
  • Jon Gries plays the mysterious braniac “Lazlo Holeyfield,” who is a former student of Atherton’s who lost it and now lives in the steam tunnels below the campus. Gries, who used his full first-name Jonathan in the credits here, does a good job as the eccentric scientist who ultimately lands the amorous Patti D’Arbanville, who plays “Sherry Nugil” has tried to sleep with the best minds in the country but finally settles on Gries as the one. Gries has also been in “Men in Black” and the quirky “Napoleon Dynamite” while D’Arbanville has been in “The Fan” and “Modern Problems.”
  • Canadian-born actor Michelle Meyrink plays the stereotypically kooky student “Jordan” and is a brain with the rest of them and develops a crush on Jarret (D’Arbanville also sets her sights on the much younger man). Meyrink, who has been in several of director Martha Coolidge’s works, does a good job as a basic ditz, but pulls it off with a little style. After only 10 acting credits through 1988, Meyrink left the Hollywood scene for family and help start and now teaches at the Actorium Training Center in Canada. She was also in “The Outsiders” and “Revenge of the Nerds.”
  • A prolific character actor (208 credits spanning a career of five decades), Ed Lauter plays government man “David Decker” and the character is Foreman’s father. He is sharp in time limited as much as Foreman’s character. Lauter did very solid work in the supporting realm – check out one of his best in the spy thriller “The Amateur.” Lauter died at 74 of mesothelioma in 2013. Oddly, he had three films released following his death.

Coolidge has a nice Hollywood pedigree (well, at least she did “Valley Girl” before “Real Genius”) and does an OK job in keeping the pace nice and the movie moving forward. Sometimes things are a bit forced, such as when Kilmer and Jarret meet or that the test of the weapon looks similar to the JFK motorcade (kind of a ham-handed shot at the military), but it’s excusable with such a likeable film. Coolidge also directed “Lost in Yonkers” as well as individual episodes of TV shows such as “Sex and the City” and the TV series “Madam Secretary.”

“Real Genius” was the 66th ranked film at the U.S. box office in 1985 with $12.95 million in ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo. It was right behind a really outstanding film that is little-remembered today, “Vision Quest” with $12.99 million. The No. 1 film of the year was “Back to the Future” with $210.6 million.

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Kilmer’s middle name was Edward; Jarret’s full birth name is Gabriel Jarret Kronsberg; Atherton’s birth name is William Atherton Knight; Coolidge’s middle name is Patterson; and Foreman’s middle name is Lynn and her nickname is “Peanut.”
  • Real students from the real Caltech used a technique in 1974 similar to “Holyfield’s” in this movie to win a bunch of prizes in a McDonald’s sweepstakes.
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “When Chris and Mitch enter the plane, a background technician speaks “Final check: latitude 65 degrees, 19 minutes, longitude 44 degrees, 09 minutes.” These coordinates lie in Russia just below the Arctic Circle near the White Sea, which was a key Soviet, now Russian Federation, naval and submarine base.”
  • One supporting character known as “Math Professor” is played by Martin Gunderston, who was an actual math professor at the University of Southern California.
  • Kent’s car, which is disassembled and rebuilt in an office, is a 1972 Citroen DS-21.
  • James Roday has been quoted as saying his character “Sean Spencer” on TV’s “Psych” was based on “Chris Knight.”
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “The ‘liquid nitrogen’ coins have baffled viewers for many years, and are considered by many to be a goof. However, the very first draft of the script shows that it wasn’t an error. The thermos contains liquid nitrogen, which in turn contains a column of super-cooled CO2 (dry ice), which is what Chris uses in the vending machine.”
  • Click here for IMDb.com’s extensive trivia page and it includes an item about how tough it was for filmmakers to get a laser beam on the big screen …

© Chuck Curry and A Gator in Naples,
©2014, ©2019, ©2025
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without
express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner
is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that
full and clear credit is given to Chuck Curry and A Gator in Naples
with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Unknown's avatar

Published by FloridaGator80

Leave a Reply