Real Genius
So called 80s movies are great to so many simply because their appeal is almost indefinable although it could just be the general lack of âpolitical correctnessâ, a known relaxing of the rules of the time when it came to humor and content that in and of itself reflected the more relaxed social nature and mores of the decade itself. One of the true undisputed comic masterpieces of the era was 1984âs Revenge Of The Nerds, a film which saw a bunch of high IQ college misfits get the better of a platoon of football players using their smarts matched against the brawn. So influential was the film that it led to this nearly as successful 1985 comedy where director Martha Coolidge decided to go in an even more realistic direction, using as her inspiration the real life CalTech Institute in Pasadena, California upon which reportedly many of the events portrayed in the film were based on true events that actually occurred on the campus. Moreso, the filmâs dialogue included extensive scientific jargon that for the most part was mostly just implied in Nerds in order to bring that authenticity to the table. Since the frathouse hijinks of having bullying jocks as enemies was also eschewed here, the main rivalry of the film was set up between two disparate groups of physics students with the âbad guysâ being not only a group who seemed to be not as smart as the other, but also are more into the politicking side of things, not afraid to snitch out the good guys to the professors in order to gain brownie points and even tamper with important experiments to make their rivals look bad. But the boldest (and most unrealistic) move here was in the casting of Val Kilmer as Chris Knight, a legendary figure in both physics and science circles who is now a senior at the college in question. Apparently, Kilmerâs Knight is someone who has just âlet goâ of taking any and all scientific matters seriously and now just seemingly wants to have wild and crazy fun at any and all opportunity. The boldness of the casting is that Kilmer (at the peak of his physical looks) is playing the part in full movie star charisma mode with his blonde hair and pretty boy looks coupled with a completely unconventional personality where to him, EVERYTHING is a joke. We are told that as a freshman at the college Kilmer was actually a totally insecure nerd before he learned to âcut looseâ and (while still retaining his intellect) find himself more interested in the pleasures of women and partying, much to the chagrin of his debonair Head Professor Hathaway as played by the underrated William Atherton (undoubtedly the best actor in the world at the time when it came to playing a prick), himself a sort of ârock starâ in the science world (complete with his own adoring fans) due to him hosting a weekly science / discussion TV show of his own. It turns out that the big project at the college is that of a high powered laser, one that is so powerful and precise that it can zap a single individual from way up in outer space. This little project is actually being developed for the United States Military for possible literal use in the world itself as a weapon with Atherton dealing with deadlines and contract offers from the military people all while using Kilmer and the other students as a form of slave labor doing all the real work on the laser while he takes the bows. To this end, he has recruited 15 year old genius Mitch Taylor (Gabe Jarrett) into the college seeing how he has way surpassed the qualifications for handling this sort of work (with parents so clueless that his father asks Atherton about a possible âsigning bonusâ not realizing that his son wasnât being recruited to play football). The problem is with Jarrett as an actor since the script kind of maneuvers him into being the co leading role with Kilmer (or even at times as the main lead with Kilmer sort of hovering over every scene) with the actor not really being very appealing or likable (the creepy way he sticks his tongue out slightly when he smiles gives him a lewd child molester look) and sometimes not even registering at all onscreen when paired with the mega charismatic Kilmer who rooms with him at the college and tries to teach him that when youâre supersmart, studying isnât everything. Whatâs worse is that Kilmer (who flirts with nearly every female he comes across) is not even given the benefit of having a central love interest but Jarrett is in the form of Michelle Meyrink (who played a very similar nerd girl love interest to Anthony Edwards in Revenge Of The Nerds just as she does here before her career evaporated) as a fast talking, almost spasmodic yet very creepy fellow student at the dorm who (if somewhat authentic) is probably the most annoying character in the movie, one who curiously (or maybe purposely) doesnât share any direct dialogue exchanges with Kilmer even though they are in several scenes together. The rest of the âcrewâ is rounded out by a bland, Asian nerd stereotype (who wonât make anybody forget Takashi in Nerds) and a strange individual (Jonathan Gries) who happens to be living in the closet of Kilmer and Jarrettâs dorm room whom it turns out was the last big stud physics star at the college before Kilmer came along prior to âcracking upâ and being thrown off the project completely, a fascinating addition to the cast of characters who also harbors a grudge for Athertonâs arrogant professor, a guy who encourages his recruits such as Jarrett to look down on all others who are less intelligent than you are. The main antagonist for Kilmer and his crew (besides Atherton) is a bitter little chap named Kent (Robert Prescott, a guy who wound up being so thoroughly humiliated in these 80s comedies while always playing such an utter asshole that his career soon dried up because there were no other acting prospects for him when they stopped making these types of movies) who winds up enraging Kilmer and Jarrett so badly that they decide to give him one of the most severe of cinematic comedy punishments: they wire a tiny receiver chip into one of his molars while heâs passed out (to ensure that heâs the only one that will hear this) and then begin transmitting (complete with deep imposing voice) to him so called âMessages From Jesusâ, telling him what to do and completely manipulating him while he thinks that heâs going crazy and hearing voices. Itâs certainly a cruel, mean spirited prank (which was typical of the time period) not to mention borderline offensive, but yet still pretty effective for getting back at a guy whoâs willing to snitch them out at every opportunity in an effort to constantly try and gain favor with Athertonâs Hathaway, about whom Kilmer could give no such concerns but who only gives in when threatened by the Professor to be flunked out of college and then see him use his word and reputation to destroy any and all of Kilmerâs possible future career prospects. One of the filmâs biggest weaknesses is in the overuse of the 80s âmontageâ style, using in this case a pop song to show the advancement of time through a series of random dialogue free scenes that easily betray themselves as actually being DELETED scenes where some character development or other bit of business that was deemed not necessary was used to comprise said montage (clearly things are being said between characters in these montage clips that were obviously originally filmed as being part of the story). But really itâs the performance of Kilmer (that put him on the fast track in Hollywood) that overshadows everything else here, a shamelessly impetuous turn that not only completely defies Hollywood ânerdâ standards (to this day) but also shows just how invaluable Kilmer himself was to making the entire film work, giving us a infinitely appealing guy whom the audience could root for (which Jarrett and the other nerds could not) and making the most out of his characterâs eccentric qualities (including always wearing bunny slippers and maintaining a detached demeanor from the rhythms of the story by making a joke out of everything), with the irony being that no matter how much director Coolidge tries to put the focus of the movie on Atherton (who is fun to watch) or on Jarrett and Meyrink (who are not), Kilmer still emerges as being the main reason to watch, cutting loose in the best tradition of dramatic actors doing comedy (as he did in Top Secret! the year before) and showing what an all around actor like him can do to carry a film that would not have been nearly as funny (or as entertaining) without his level of talent being involvedâŚ
8/10