Val Kilmer’s always wise cracking – but never exactly laugh-out-loud funny – character is at hard to stomach for the first 30 minutes, but as soon as the movie introduces an actual plot, Real Genius becomes interesting enough to watch for the remaining 45 minutes.

The movie kind of tries something new, but the theme was already better handled one year earlier in Revenge of the Nerds (1984)

80s-o-meter: 84%

Total: 63%