Join us in re-living one of every geek’s favorite flicks: Real Genius. Besides generating quotes heard ’round the community — “It is God!” — providing one of Val Kilmer’s greatest roles, and forever cementing a strange connection between Tears for Fears and laser-heated popcorn, this movie is just plain fun.
And if you have the time, feel free to give us a call at 214-296-9229 for inclusion in our coming-soon bonus podcast.
Real Genius [IMDB]
I ADORE this film! It’s every geek’s dream come true!
“God”: “Kent, stop playing with yourself.”
Kent: “It =is= God!”
AAAAHHHHH! Sorry folks - I managed to get 2 posts in a row going!
One of the most quotable movies ever.
“I was hot, and I was hungry.”
ps. If you’re one of the people that haven’t seen the flick, and you’re hesitant to check out a comedy 20-years old, this is a real YouGottaSeeIt flick. I can’t imagine anyone who would spend time on GWC not getting a huge kick outta this movie.
OMG this is one of my favorite movies.
“Do you mind if I name my first child after you? “Dipshit Knight” has a nice ring to it.”
"Self-realization. I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said, “I drank what?” "
I can’t believe I forgot this one – a sure sign the re-watch is coming none too soon.
I’m going to find a way to use this in conversation this week.
odd i have never heard of this movie before, seeing as how the good folk here have suggested it i’ll have look into it.
This is another one of those movies when you quote it you either get one of two responses strange looks OR loving recognition. If you every need to seek out the geeks at a party, just ask, “Would you prepared if gravity reversed itself? The only thing I can’t figure out is how to keep the change in my pockets. I’ve got it. Nudity.” If their eyes light up, you’ve got a friend for life. If not, shrug and walk away. My favorite line and I used it in my teens…
Don’t eat that!
Don’t you know that eating that stuff can give you very large breasts?
Oh, my God! I’m too late!
Sometimes it actually worked, other times not so much.
I’m 40 years old, and studied Mechanical Engineering at an almost exclusively engineering and science college. I was at exactly the right age and place in life for this movie. Easily in my top 10 favorite movies.
I re-watched it not too long ago, and was pleased to find that it holds up surprisingly well - much better than most '80s movies.
Jordan: Are you peeing?
Mitch: Uh, I can’t start.
Jordan: Because I’m here?
Mitch: I think so.
Jordan: Weird. Well I have to go.
Mitch: Me too
Michelle Meyrink (Jordan) was excellent in that role, and maybe tops my list of very-attractive-but-I-can’t-explain-why '80s women.
“It’s a moral imperative!!”
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve said that…I’d say it much, much more often.
I have to confess that this is one of my all time favorite movies. Excellent choice!
I look foward to the podcast about it.
— Dismal the watcher
just listened to the bonus 'cast, and thought i would share this link with you all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgJ0EpxjZBU
sure, it probably can’t pop a house full of popcorn, but it could probably do one of those little snack sized bags…
Since this movie (one of my favorites) is basically a game of connect the quotes, I posted some .wav files that may help…
http://www.internetradio.us.com/RealGenius/
Have fun…
— Dismal the master of www.InternetRadio.us.com
The only problem with this movie which I adore is that the one montage with the lyric, “I’m falling, falling” always gets stuck in my head…
…I’m falling, falling…
Im sorry, but it wasnt that great. Maby it will grow on me, maby its a time difference, or something; but it wasnt that great. It was good, and had some funny lines…oh hell it was great. Im gonna go watch it soon again. I just wanted to diss cause it was form the 70s errrr 80s…or could be 90s
Gee, what great movie this…
90 MINUTES TILL NEW GALACTICA !!!
Well that’s about as close to a lightsaber as real life can get you! 
Two thoughts:
Holy craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap.
Any opportunity to use the following image is a good one:
(Note: read this fast, and assume a Jordan hyperactive, cute voice.)
OH whow, that movie was awesome. And if it wasn’t for you guys, I never would have known about it because it was way before my time. I’ve watched it 3 times now, and have a crush on Jordan. She kind of looks like Selma Blair, or at least her Liz Sherman character (who I think is really cute as well) of Hellboy. I think that Jordan’s haircut is one of the major things doing it for me. She reminds me of this girl I meant this one time at band camp…
A bit of a coincidence I was watching it on my computer with a big bucket full of popcorn.
So when Knight yells “Oh my god! It’s heading for the gas tanks! Duck.” Is he being serious or exaggerating. I kept expecting to hear an explosion in the background and debris flying. And has anyone else noticed how many times the word “cheese” appears in the movie?
It is nice that it’s one of those rare movies where everything turns out okay for people, and that it didn’t have to rely on things like death, violence, or nudity. To clarify what Sean said, the guy that looks like he got vaporized didn’t, because that was within the clip of the weapon concept. Though it’s implied that the guy that walks out of that meeting (George) is going to get killed. The one dangerous part that no one seems to have mentioned, is they there could have been somebody standing in a corridor or outside somewhere in the path of that big laser firing. HA, death by laser. Btw, it’s pretty easy to modify most laser pointer pens to fire something that starts fires by adjusting a hidden potentiometer and/or swapping in the diode from a DVD burner.
You guys are right. Movies are so much more cynical now. There aren’t that many movies nowadays where we have “everything’s going to be okay”, and happy endings. It does restores your faith in the way the universe works, or should work or could work. It also appeals to my geekiness, because I kept catching myself over-analyzing how they would go about achieving those various pranks. I’m still not happy with my exploding apples, and I’ve already pulled off a fake-quarter trick when I was 5 or 6. Hem… I really wish I could be that arrogantly confident hitting on girls like Knight does. It’d be hilarious, especially if I were to get slapped. Although, I guess I get slapped enough as it is.
So Sean offered up two stories of pranking, and Audra one, but I noticed that Chuck didn’t admit to anything. The ones given were pretty elaborate though. I don’t have the ingenuity to have done anything like that, or maybe I’m just not that mean-spirited.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever run into a Jordan in real life, though I sort of used to be when I was sufficiently caffeine. Like there was this one time my roommates came back to find me doing serious sawing with a dozen 2x4s in the living room to make a bed frame (for lofting). I do find her to be a believable character as well. The thing I have issue with is Kent. I highly doubt people like that exist, and found the character to be distracting. It only served as comic relief for me. I’d like to think that a person like that wouldn’t have survived that long there. It was his last year. I was tremendously disturbed by the character that was checking off her top-ten list. She must have been about 30 and was trying to seduce a 15 year old? That’s pretty sick and fraked up.
When is it stated that Jordan is 19 years old? I can see how she would appeal to Mitch, but I don’t see why she’s so drawn towards him. Also, when you are a reasonably cute girl at a place like CalTech, cough I mean Pacific Tech, where the male-to-female ratio is so high, you pretty much get your pick of guys. Although realistically, I do have 2 attractive female friends going to CalTech, that do have difficulties in these matters.
I love how the things you guys talk about connect so much with random things in my life. Speaking of processed sounds, I’ve been seriously considering getting a ring-modulator to generate a Dalek voice. (Any of you watch Doctor Who?) I don’t understand the quote “I drank what?” - someone can explain this to me. When I hear it, I am reminded of the “American Pie” trilogy, which I had just watched that morning - in relation to the drinking of various fluids… in each movie.
I’m totally going to have to start dropping quotes from this. I’m sure I’ve seen references to this in things like Futurama, Simpsons, or Family Guy. Especially the “It *is God.” Not sure what the “lip list” you guys are talking about is.
You three all have very sexy voices…
-HeadDoug
I just found the answer to one of my own questions. Alright, Jordan clearly states that she is 19 during the rebreather scene - which I rewatched after reading up on Scuba gear and the theory behind rebreathers just now.
Is it just me or are younger-boy/older-girl relationships adorable (like if there is at least 3 years difference)… or perhaps you find it wierd? Is it wierd? I mean, is there anything wrong with a women dating a much younger fella? (Not that it applys to me or anything o_O.)
-HeadDoug