This movies was made when movies were actually good and didn't have an underlying message but to entertain. Awesome comedy for any age brilliant story filled with tons of laughs.

There really is a difference between smart people and nerds. You can be smart and fun at the same time. You can be witty and someone socially desirable all at once. Getting good grades doesn't necessarily sentence you to a life as a social pariah. Most of the characters we meet in Real Genius are not actually nerds. The Kent character would be an exception. But Real Genius is a fun and reasonably intelligent comedy with exceptionally smart people as its heroes. And unlike the protagonists in Revenge of the Nerds, they aren't people you'd necessarily make fun of. But you can certainly laugh at them.Real Genius is the story of a handful of whiz kids at mythical Pacific Tech University who are unwittingly being used to develop a deadly weapon for the CIA. It turns out their smarmy professor (William Atherton) is using a government grant to refurbish his home while his students relentlessly spend all of their waking moments in a lab developing a laser beam which can eradicate a human target from space. Gabe Jarret is a 15 yr old new to the team who finds himself roomed with Val Kilmer; a genius who has long ago decided not to take school so seriously. Jarret only wants to work on the laser and live up to the expectations of his parents and the faculty. Kilmer wants to teach the kid how to have some fun. And all the while this dangerous weapon is being created in their lab. Finally, after several plot complications, the weapon is complete. But it takes a former whiz kid living in the steam tunnels beneath the dorm to point out that this laser can really only have one use. Feeling betrayed, the students gang up on their professor and use his weapon to teach him a lesson. Real Genius is not a particularly plausible film in terms of its plot, but it succeeds at its most basic goal. In other words, its funny. Kilmer has never been better, spouting smug one-liners that would make Chevy Chase or Bill Murray smile. Atherton always got to play the creep back in the 1980s, and as usual he does it quite well. Gabe Jarret never did much else, but he's as good as he needs to be as the new "stud" who can hardly believe he's doing what he's doing at age 15. The film has dated fairly well. It has a good soundtrack, good special f/x for the laser, and good cast with several memorable performances. There are some unnecessary elements, such as the mixer with student beauticians, and perhaps Jarret's relationship with the hyper girl down the hall was tacked on. But overall its still a winner after so many years. Worth a rental if you don't own it already. 8 of 10 stars.The Hound

This movie was terrible! Normally I love 80s movies, especially wacky, zany, or unique ones such as Better Off Dead, One Crazy Summer, and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Real Genius falls into this wacky and zany category, but also falls into the obnoxious and not funny category. In this movie, a 15 year old genius boy with idiot parents gets into college at his young age, decides he can't take living there, decides he can take it after all, then it turns out he was involved in the creation of some super laser that can blast through anything. The plot was stupid and the jokes were all crude and not even funny. The movie was overall weird and had no charm. The genius kid also falls in love with a freak girl who never sleeps. This movie was lame and had crappy music and I regret ever watching it. Do yourself a favor and pick a different 80s comedy such as the ones I mentioned earlier.

This movie brings back a lot of memories and it's one of Val Kilmer's most entertaining comedies. This movie belongs on the shelf beside the greatest classics: Back to the Future, The Goonies, Wargames, Weird Science, etc ...I'm not going to recap the movie or give my interpretation on the movie. Everything is relative. I really enjoyed this movie as a kid and I'm going to watch it right now (I'm 28 btw). Check it out.Val Kilmer does an amazing job in this movie. He's such a confident and amusing actor. If you're a fan of Val Kilmer as I am then you're going to enjoy this movie.I agree with the last comment made on this movie. I could watch this movie every day.Enjoy!