Real Genuis

[maggiemanning13]

The film, Real Genius is centered around a small group of supremely intelligent young men who are commissioned by a professor from their college to create a laser known as the crossbow project. The story centers around Mitch, a 15 year-old genius who is brought to the campus to help fix a unworkable problem with the laser. He is befriended by another genius, Chris, played by Val Kilmer. The movie portrays Mitch as a play by the rules character and is much different from the party personality of Chris. Throughout the movie Chris tries to get Mitch to loosen up and enjoy his college experience, but Mitch is extremely focused on his studies and the laser. One theme that I saw throughout the movie was work hard and play hard. Chris is constantly trying to get Mitch to enjoy himself from ice skating through their dorm hallways to indoor pool parties. Since Mitch is a young genius, everyone is focused on harboring that and turns away from the fact that he is still a kid. But Chris sees this and convinces Mitch to loosen up a bit and while doing so, he falls for a co-ed named Jordan. Another theme which ties into the original would be to take time and act like a kid, there may be a lot of work to be done, but who doesn’t love a pool party every now and again?