ign logo IGN.com | AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | GameSpy | FilePlanet | TeamXbox | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | Direct2Drive

RottenTomatoes.com

RT Bug Squash
Home Movies DVD Celebrities News Critics Photos & Trailers The Vine Forums
Box Office | In Theaters | Opening | Upcoming | Best Of | Certified Fresh | Showtimes
Register for free site & special features! | Log In | What is RT?
                       
MOVIES / ON DVD / REAL GENIUS
Real Genius

Rate This Movie

Write a Review
Share This Movie
Add to List
Buy DVD
Buy Poster

Bookmark and Share

Real Genius (1985)

74%
N/A
77%
N/A
N/A
N/A
74 %
Reviews Counted: 23 Fresh: 17  Rotten:6 Average Rating: 6.5/10
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Synopsis:
When 15-year-old science genius Mitch Taylor (Gabe Jarrett) is recruited by the pompous Professor Hathaway (William Atherton) to be part of a special research team, he has no idea he will be working on a top secret military weapon. Enrolling at Pacific Tech College, he meets his fellow whiz... [More]
When 15-year-old science genius Mitch Taylor (Gabe Jarrett) is recruited by the pompous Professor Hathaway (William Atherton) to be part of a special research team, he has no idea he will be working on a top secret military weapon. Enrolling at Pacific Tech College, he meets his fellow whiz kid classmates, including infamous senior Chris Knight (Val Kilmer), whose intelligence and irreverent behavior are legendary; they become roommates, despite their different approaches to life. When Hathaway threatens to expel Chris for bad behavior, the two brains join forces to finish the special laser project before it is too late, in the process unveiling secrets about the project that inspire them to plot an elaborate revenge. [Less]

Genre: Comedies

Starring: Val Kilmer, Gabe Jarret, Michelle Meyrink, William Atherton

Director: Martha Coolidge
Screenwriter: Neal Israel, Pat Proft, Peter Torokvei
Producer: Brian Grazer
Composer: Thomas Newman

DVD Info

Release:

Jun 11, 2002

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Widescreen - 2.35
  • Full Frame

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital Stereo - English

Interactive Features:

  • Interactive Menus
  • Scene Selection

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
T-Meter Critics
 
 
Top Critics
 
 
RT Community
 
 
My Critics
 
 
My Friends
 
 
DVD
 
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2
Arrange By: Name | Fresh | Rotten | Date | Source
 
 
Ratings Image

The humor is relentlessly cruel, smug, and disconnected from any sense of how human beings might behave in similar situations.

Full Review | Comment
05/30/07 09:08 PM
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

This disappointing teen comedy from director Martha Coolidge is another entry in the rash of teens-goofing-with-science films.

Full Review | Comment
05/30/07 09:07 PM
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

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 | Comment
05/30/07 09:06 PM
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

The movie gets stuck as a run-of-the-mill teen revenge comedy.

Full Review | Comment
05/30/07 09:02 PM
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

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 tougher aspects of the material.

Full Review | Comment
06/24/06 04:23 AM
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Ratings Image

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 | Comment
10/13/05 05:16 PM
James Sanford
Kalamazoo Gazette
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
06/19/05 09:18 PM
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image

goofy and very funny

| Comment
04/18/05 07:04 AM
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
11/19/04 08:32 AM
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews
Ratings Image

Young Kilmer in no-brainer comedy

| Comment
10/19/04 08:12 PM
Steve Crum
Kansas City Kansan
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
08/10/04 01:17 AM
Kevin Carr
Film Threat
Ratings Image

Supreme guilty pleasure

| Comment
12/18/03 03:20 PM
Brian J. Arthurs
Beach Reporter (Southern California)
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
09/05/03 11:41 AM
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Ratings Image

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 | Comment
05/20/03 05:18 PM
Janet Maslin
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

See it. If you have seen it, see it again. It's a moral imperative.

| Comment
10/14/02 11:14 PM
Widgett Walls
Needcoffee.com
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
09/24/02 05:46 AM
Rob Blackwelder
SPLICEDWire
Ratings Image

A guilty pleasure....ooodles of fun

| Comment
09/17/02 11:36 PM
Clint Morris
Moviehole
Ratings Image

Pure '80s genius.

| Comment
08/07/02 10:47 PM
Luke Y. Thompson
New Times
Ratings Image

No review available.

| Comment
08/05/02 09:33 PM
Rob Vaux
Flipside Movie Emporium
Ratings Image

Like Risky Business, this not only rose above the 1980s teen comedy genre, but stuck it to the Reagan administration as well.

| Comment
07/26/02 10:38 AM
Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2
See More Topics...

Related Forums

Damn good movie
by: Movie Prelude 4/14/04


Post your thoughts
by: Sam the man 12/26/03


schpankboy
100% on the Tomato-meter!
by: schpankboy 2/3/03


schpankboy
100% on the Tomato-meter!
by: schpankboy 2/3/03


schpankboy
100% on the Tomato-meter!
by: schpankboy 2/3/03
all

News

Box Office Preview: "Snakes" Prepares For Takeoff
posted by RT Staff August 17, 2006
This weekend Samuel L. Jackson looks to seize control of the muthaf*ckin' box office with his new muthaf*ckin' film...


The Duff Sisters Find Themselves Some New "Material"
posted by Scott Weinberg April 08, 2005

Around the Network

• Real Genius at Rotten Tomatoes
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | ModCenter | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive

By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2008, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.