Bad Genius (2024)
Genre: Thriller
Duration: 96 minuten
Country:
United States
Directed by: J.C. Lee
Stars: Callina Liang, Jabari Banks and Benedict Wong
IMDb score:
6,3 (3.341)
Releasedate: 11 September 2024
Bad Genius plot
"Risking it all for one big score."
Through a scholarship, Lynn manages to secure a place at a prestigious high school. The gifted student sees an opportunity to escape her roots by helping wealthy classmates cheat on important exams. Not only does this put the American education system in jeopardy, it also poses a major risk to Lynn's future.
Actors and actresses
Grace
Irene Walsh
Lynn
Clint Marshall
Ms. Kaufman
Chapin
College Board Staff
Homeless Guy
Reviews & comments
mrklm
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- 11699 messages
- 10079 votes
Lynn [Callina Liang] is an intelligent, hardworking, and exemplary student who dreams of studying to become a pianist at the prestigious Juilliard. Her father [Benedict Wong] works his ass off to make Lynn's dream come true, but Lynn realizes that he will never be able to earn enough money to cover all the costs. Then Lynn is approached by Grace [Taylor Hickson] and millionaire son Samuel [Pat Stone], who use their money to compensate for their lack of academic ability (and commitment) by offering Lynn a huge sum of money if she helps them cheat on their math exams. This satire disguised as a thriller takes short shrift of a testing system that is set up to favor young people from wealthy families at the expense of poor young people, and painfully exposes the institutional racism of prestigious schools that use students with a immigrant background for marketing purposes to clean up their own streets. It succeeds as a thriller, succeeds as a satire, especially because of the ironic denouement.
Translated from Dutch · View original
mjk87 (moderator films)
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- 14614 messages
- 4563 votes
Quite a nice movie that just doesn't always run smoothly in terms of pace and sometimes makes that short playing time seem longer. Especially when there is cheating during the final exams, that is too repetitive. The movie also tries to bring tension but that doesn't work which made me feel more impatience.
Nevertheless, sympathetically played, nice atmosphere, fine viewing material where you can have little against. Yes, the theme is somewhat chewed up and everything is also quite unbelievable but sometimes I don't mind that. 3.0*.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Collins
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- 7361 messages
- 4357 votes
Bad Genius is the remake of the Thai film Chalard Games Goeng (2017). Unfortunately, I only read that after I had already seen the American version. In general, I prefer the original over the American remake. So be it. I should pay more attention. Fortunately, Bad Genius is an entertaining film.
Director and co-writer JC Lee has made some adjustments in the American version that work well. The basic story about exam fraud is the same. However, Lee gives his main character Lynn two characteristics that make her stand out sharply from the average student who is white and has rich parents. He gives her poor living conditions that make it difficult for her to fit in with the rich students. Lee thinks that is not enough and he also gives her a migration background. Lee makes the social distinction greater than in the original film. The contrasts are not very subtle, but they make it easy to sympathize with Lynn.
By the way, don't expect far-reaching social criticism. The film keeps it simple and only accentuates the contrasts between poor and privileged. It is made easy for the viewer to distinguish black from white. Other things are more important. Much more important is the thriller aspect. The fraud is portrayed in an exciting way by constantly inserting moments where things threaten to go wrong. The tension increases during the course of the film and is especially tense towards the end of the film. Besides being exciting, the fraud is also fascinating to watch. The methods used are pleasantly inventive and contribute to the entertainment factor.
Bad Genius is not a high flyer, but does its job as a thriller well. The film is exciting and entertaining. Fine.
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