'80s Movie Montage
Breaking down our favorite decade of flicks. Hosted by Anna Keizer and Derek Dehanke.
'80s Movie Montage
Real Genius
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Anna and Derek take a deep dive into the genius that is Real Genius (1985).
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Anna Keizer and Derek Dehanke are the co-hosts of ‘80s Movie Montage. The idea for the podcast came when they realized just how much they talk – a lot – when watching films from their favorite cinematic era. Their wedding theme was “a light nod to the ‘80s,” so there’s that, too. Both hail from the Midwest but have called Los Angeles home for several years now. Anna is a writer who received her B.A. in Film/Video from Columbia College Chicago and M.A. in Film Studies from Chapman University. Her dark comedy short She Had It Coming was an Official Selection of 25 film festivals with several awards won for it among them. Derek is an attorney who also likes movies. It is a point of pride that most of their podcast episodes are longer than the movies they cover.
Hello and welcome to 80s movie montage, day 537 of the global quarantine, and we're here to talk about real genius. I'm Derek Dankey.
SPEAKER_04:And I'm Anna Kaiser.
SPEAKER_00:Don't know why I added my last name this time, but there it is.
SPEAKER_04:Hi, everybody. Hope you're all doing well and staying safe and healthy and sane out there.
SPEAKER_00:And today, like I said, and like you already knew since you clicked the uh the link, we're talking about Real Genius starring Val Kilmer and many others.
SPEAKER_04:Primarily Val Kilmer. I mean, to be honest, I well, okay, it's not totally true that I didn't recognize anybody else in the movie, but there's like one other person I recognized in the movie. And that's that's kind of a first with the films that we've covered.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, this this is a movie that I have seen probably from well, what I now is maybe know 20 minutes in from the actual start of it. And I had never actually seen the beginning, so it was kind of it was kind of nuts seeing it. And I remember you looked at me and said, What is this even about? I'm like, I don't think I know anymore. Uh but in any case, yeah. Real genius, 1985, Val Kilmer.
SPEAKER_04:Val Kilmer. So uh this was Derek's pick.
SPEAKER_00:This was my fault.
SPEAKER_04:And no, no, no, not saying that at all. But uh I much like Bloodsport, this was the first time that I had well, okay, I had seen like kind of bits and pieces of this film, but truly bits and pieces. So again, I came into this not knowing at all what this film was about.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, it's um it's kind of wacky. It's kind of hard to wrap your head around what it's even about. And uh the trailer, which we will feature as a clip a little bit later in the podcast, will give you an even better sense of just how bonkers the premise of the movie is.
SPEAKER_04:I feel like we use that word a lot. Bonkers. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I I have been using it a lot. I apologize.
SPEAKER_04:No.
SPEAKER_00:I will I will need to come up with some more descriptive terms for some of the wacky stuff that happened in the 80s.
SPEAKER_04:But it this was a great, I'm really glad that we saw this film because I learned a lot about it because you know that I like to kind of do my little bit of research on the people who are behind the scenes. And it's actually for a film that I'm we'll get into this later. I'm not so sure if this is going to be on my rotation in the future, but there are some pretty impressive people that are attached to to this film.
SPEAKER_00:It is more heavily based in reality than you could possibly have imagined. Which is crazy. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:I was shocked. So yeah, so let's let's kind of go through that a little bit. So uh like I said, I like to talk about the people behind the scenes. So usually I'll say this much. When you see more than two writers credited on a film, yeah, typically that doesn't bode well for a film. Uh, we have three writers credited. And and actually, not to kind of go down this rabbit hole, but the number of credited writers does not equal to the number of writers that worked on a script.
SPEAKER_00:They probably needed two of those writers just to write all the dialogue for the character Jordan.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, exactly. We'll we'll get into that. But um, but of the individuals who are credited, they again have done a lot in their careers. Uh the first one credited is Neil Israel, and what I've noticed is that he is a writer, but also he kind of transitioned later in life and he's done a ton of TV directing, so he kind of shifted gears. But among his other yeah, so kind of interesting. We've seen that a couple times now. Among his writing credits, besides Real Genius, we have Police Academy.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. That's those, those, it's like stayed on brand.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and because of now, I don't know to what degree he was involved with the all the many sequels to Police Academy, but he is credited on them because he essentially came up with the characters and that sort of thing. Yeah. So um, so he has his influence on that film series.
SPEAKER_00:The police academy universe, if you will.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, exactly. Bachelor Party again on brand. And then not look who's talking, but look who's talking to God damn it. T O.
SPEAKER_00:Uh-huh. Yeah. Otherwise, it would be an incomplete sentence. Who are they talking to? I don't know.
SPEAKER_04:So, so that's one of the writers. Uh, the next writer, Pat Proft.
SPEAKER_01:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_04:So, what's interesting here, you'll see what I mean in a second. Um, this is, I think, the first time we've come upon a writing pair. So there are tons of writers out there who work on their own, but then there are some writers who are like a partnership. And so this seems to be the case here. I mean, prior to Real Genius, they worked on the Carol Burnett show. This is this is my favorite. My favorite, I think, call out. This writer worked on or was the writer behind the Star Wars holiday special.
SPEAKER_00:Oh God, that's amazing.
SPEAKER_04:Right?
SPEAKER_00:That that's uh yeah, that's a connection I had not anticipated.
SPEAKER_04:Isn't that awesome?
SPEAKER_00:Because I thought they had like literally removed all reference to the Star Wars holiday special. Yeah, you can find real like greasy copies of it on YouTube where it's just you can hardly tell what's happening.
SPEAKER_04:That's so cool though. I thought that was really cool.
SPEAKER_00:Even in the highest resolution, you can't tell what's going on.
SPEAKER_04:And the reason why I bring up the partnership is because then we have credits for Police Academy as well and Bachelor Party.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_04:But as in the again, very much in the same wheelhouse, The Naked Gun, Hot Shots was a prolific comedy writer. Very much so. Hot Shots par d.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. They were both pretty good.
SPEAKER_04:And then, not scary movie, not scary movie two, but scary movie three, four, and five.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, you want to make sure that the franchise is established before you sign on, right?
SPEAKER_04:But I'm pretty impressed by all that. And again, very much found their niche in all this. Um, the last writer that is credited, I'm gonna probably destroy this name, PJ Tarotsk V.
SPEAKER_01:How's it what?
SPEAKER_04:Uh T-O-R-O-K-V-E-I, my apologies.
SPEAKER_00:Let's just call them PJ T.
SPEAKER_04:Sure. Uh so not as prolific, but still some street cred. Uh, they were a writer on, do you remember, not maybe like at the time that it was actually airing, but WKRP in Cincinnati.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:I remember as a kid seeing reruns of that and hating that shit. It was just like not for kids.
SPEAKER_00:It was not for kids. Yeah. Uh the song, the theme song was was kind of amazing, which I'm not gonna attempt to sing, but hey, check it out, baby.
SPEAKER_04:Maybe you remember that. Um, so we'll probably bring this person up again because one of uh their other credits is back to school.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I I did feel like there was some connection. Like I saw I felt like there was some similarities. Yeah, yeah. I mean, well, and in kind of the worst way, because as I was watching this thinking, wow, if I made a huge mistake, I don't know if I like this movie the way that I thought it was hilarious when I was younger.
SPEAKER_04:That's fine.
SPEAKER_00:But then I was thinking, oh, it also kind of reminds me of Back to School, and I know that that's on our list too.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah, that's coming down the well, essentially at some point every 80s movie is coming down the pipeline.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:But um, and lastly, all these writers, it's so interesting because they have these really interesting sequel credits to their name. In this particular case, Caddyshack 2.
SPEAKER_00:Oh no.
SPEAKER_04:So there we go.
SPEAKER_00:That that Caddyshack sequel is um it's something I'd like to forget ever happening.
SPEAKER_04:Never never saw it. Kind of how I feel about Back to the Future 2, huh?
SPEAKER_00:Uh Back to the Future 2. I'm probably gonna get hate mail for that, but it's like the first half of that is pretty rough, but if you're able to power through it, I feel like it it is kind of fun with like the multiple timelines. Anyways.
SPEAKER_04:I take offense to the term power through it because I don't think you should have to power through a film to like appreciate it. Anyway, totally off topic. Sorry. Well back to real genius. Back to real genius. So those are the writers on this film. Okay, so this is what I'm really stoked to talk about here.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_04:Uh, the person who directed this film. Now, as with like a lot of different as with a lot of different kind of behind-the-scenes individuals that are attached to different films, it's it's typically male. Okay. It's getting better.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Uh, but at the time, so this is 1985, it's still highly unusual for a female director to be involved in a project, but here we have one. Yeah. Martha Coolidge.
SPEAKER_00:That's very cool.
SPEAKER_04:She is probably one of the most successful female directors that we've had. Uh, I mean, she's for sure the first female director that we've mentioned for the podcast. And just in general, ever since then, she's she's gone on to do other films. I love Valley Girl. That's one of her other films. That's where I kind of kind of first came across her. Um, she did Rambling Rose, she did Out to Sea, she's also done a ton of television.
SPEAKER_00:She has done a ton of stuff.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, ton of stuff. Um, amongst some of her TV credits.
SPEAKER_00:She's still doing it. Oh yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Oh yeah. No, she's still totally out there and working, so it's awesome. Uh, Sex in the City, and then she did quite a bit of uh CSI for a while. So so awesome. I love that so much. Martha Coolidge, and there's actually a little connection to Valley Girl that we'll talk about in a minute here.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Do you think those uh connections are coincidences or do you think it's no, I think it's completely deliberate. Are you sure? Why are you about to approve me wrong or your response was so instantaneous. I'm like, really?
SPEAKER_04:I think in this particular case, it's very much a deliberate choice that was made.
SPEAKER_00:It's too much of a coincidence to deny that it was not a coincidence. Exactly.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. So I don't I don't usually do this. I don't usually bring up the producers on a film because it's just not just Yeah, the hell with them. Yeah, exactly. They're only the people who kind of anyway. Um Brian Gracer.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:So saw that name and felt like it was worth bringing him up because he is just as Martha Coolidge is one of the most successful female directors out there. I would put some money down in saying that he is one of the most successful film producers. Okay. Um and actually he's done quite a bit of TV too in the last several years.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I think he worked on the spiritual successor to Real Genius, which uh featured Russell Crowe and was titled A Beautiful Mind.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, exactly. No, so okay, I'm glad you brought that up. Because Brian Grazer producer, what you might know him from is that he is the producing partner of Ron Howard. So a year after That makes sense.
SPEAKER_00:When I'm looking through his credits, it makes a lot of sense. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:So a year after this film came out in 1986, he and Ron Howard started Imagine Entertainment. And so that's the producing or the production company that they've worked under for now, what, like 30-ish years.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Um prior to them officially starting Imagine Entertainment, they had already worked together in I believe '84 is. On Splash. Yeah. When Splash came out, Ron Howard was the director on that. So, I mean, this guy, I it would just we could do a whole show on him. He has currently 186 producing credits on IMDB.
SPEAKER_00:That's not bad.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, no, he's he's legit. So we mentioned Splash, Spies Like Us, Parenthood, Backdraft, My Girl, Far and Away, Boomerang.
SPEAKER_00:Is Spies Like Us on our list?
SPEAKER_04:Not at the moment.
SPEAKER_00:Well, but guess what? It just got put on the list.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, it's amazing. Yeah, no, it's good. Boomerang.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Apollo 13, Ed TV. I made a point of mentioning Ed TV because I love that film.
SPEAKER_00:Is that the one with uh Alright, alright? Yeah. Okay. And then uh Arrested Development.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, yes, yes. Um, and then yeah, I just was listing a lot of his film credits. Um, You mentioned a beautiful mind. I also love the movie Blue Crush. It's one of my faves.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Eight Mile, and then Frost Nixon. So he has a huge wheelhouse. He does everything from broad comedy to very serious dramatic work. So it's impressive. He is also the producer on World Genius. Nice. So, okay. Now we're getting into like the people who are in this film. You've mentioned Mr. Val Kelmer.
SPEAKER_00:He he is definitely a star of this movie. He's he is the driving force of the movie.
SPEAKER_04:He is for sure the driving force of this movie. And what I didn't realize before watching the film is that even though that statement is true, I don't think he it was ever originally intended for him to like he's he's not the main character in this film. Well, it's interesting that you say that because he's not he kind of becomes that towards the end of the film. And that's like we'll talk about that when we get into the story, but it's a really weird shift.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Because they go from one character being the main character and following his story in the journey.
SPEAKER_00:He's not really the main character.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and then halfway through the movie we shift over to Chris Knight.
SPEAKER_00:So it's a really weird Chris Knight, of course, is the uh character played by Val Kilmer.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. So that was a bit of a head scratcher.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and so for me, the only two actors that really stand out to me are Val Kilmer, who is not really the star of the movie, but is probably the star of the movie. And then uh their professor, they're their evil professor. What wow, what is William Atherton. Yes, William Ather Atherton, who kind of plays the same character.
SPEAKER_04:He's great at it.
SPEAKER_00:But he's kind of like swarmy and he's gonna make things go bad for you. You're probably gonna get back at him. It's gonna be a whole thing.
SPEAKER_04:But he's he's like that same kind of like And and and to kind of give context to what you're saying, so Ghostbusters. Yeah, yes, this man has no dick. The EPA Walter Peck, which I still find it amazing that they man managed to make the EPA the villain in that movie.
SPEAKER_00:Different times. Different times.
SPEAKER_04:So yeah, this man has no dick. That's that's who you were talking about.
SPEAKER_00:The field reporter or the newscaster from Die Hard.
SPEAKER_04:Thornburg.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. So and and look, he's he's been working ever since. He has a long list of credits. Yeah. But that's probably where most people know him from.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:He he just, yeah, he really is great at that role. That swarmy, you just want to punch him.
SPEAKER_00:He's well cast.
SPEAKER_04:Really well cast. He does a great job. So so yes, those are literally the only two people I recognized in this film.
SPEAKER_00:And then another person that you brought up is um, is it his name Laszlo?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Oh, yes, yes, yes. The guy in the closet.
SPEAKER_00:So there's a there's a student. We'll get to him later. But this guy lives in a steam room by way of accessing a secret passage through a closet in their dorm room.
SPEAKER_04:All makes total sense. Right. Completely, completely legit.
SPEAKER_00:He's Uncle Rico. From Napoleon Dynamite. Yeah. Watch me throw this football over those mountains. Uncle Rico.
SPEAKER_04:Actually, the when I like finally was like, oh yeah, that's who that guy is. I actually know him a little bit better. It's not as big of a role, but I know him from Get Shorty.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_04:He's like one of the two I don't know if he's necessarily hitman. He's just kind of like a muscle guy. Like he's there to kind of, you know, influence people into doing what they want, which is give them money mostly. But he's really great in that too. Small role, but great, great role.
SPEAKER_00:And he has a few recurring roles in the amazing CW show entitled Supernatural.
SPEAKER_04:That would be all you.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, big fan of that show. Anyways, let's let's move on.
SPEAKER_04:Big fan of that show. And yeah, again, he's been working ever since. He also was for a while. I don't, I again never really watched this show, but Beverly Hills 90210, he was on for a while, I guess. The original? Yes. Okay. The original. He for a short stint had a recording role on Lost.
SPEAKER_00:Hmm, okay. I probably would remember him if I saw him, because I did watch that.
SPEAKER_04:And then what's interesting about what you said about Napoleon Dynamite is I never watched the TV series version, but he reprised that role? He reprised that role.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_04:So, yeah, very interesting. So, okay, so I'm completely lying about like not really recognizing more than two people.
SPEAKER_00:But not by much because it's really just those three.
SPEAKER_04:Well, and then also Deborah Foreman, who Son of a gun. I know. So for the people who don't know, earlier I mentioned Valley Girl. She is the female lead alongside Nicholas Cage. I think at the time, was he uh build Nicholas Coppola? He might he might have been.
SPEAKER_00:I I've never seen Valley Girl.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, well, that's coming. We we own that film. Yeah. So yeah, we're gonna. So she has a very small role, but uh yeah, because Martha Coolidge also directed Valley Girl, I feel like that was very much a kind of friendship, sure, I'm gonna give you this role type of thing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:So so okay, so we have four people in total who are recognizable. That's it. That's it. But that doesn't mean that there aren't other people in the film who I mean, actually some of the people in the film have pretty big roles, and I can't say I really recognize them or have been familiar with their work since. Yeah. One of them is the kid, he's 15 years old, Mitch Taylor, in the film, who obstensibly is the main character of the film up until about halfway through.
SPEAKER_00:We're all led to believe that he's the main character. Turns out that's that's up for debate.
SPEAKER_04:I'm kind of wondering, I feel like this is probably just conspiracy theory talk. Oh. But I wonder if like so typically films are not are not uh shot in chronological order because it's just usually more customer. Logistically that way, logistically doesn't work. I don't know if this film was or not, but I feel like sometimes, you know, you kind of see who's popping and who's not. I wonder if they were like, oh, this is like Vel Kilmer's like way better than this other kid. I'm I'm throwing so much shade right now.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, well, I feel like maybe that kid who played Mitch just really excelled at the character he was playing because I feel like that character was not supposed to pop. He was supposed to be just kind of like this like kid thrust into these insane circumstances, whereas Val Kilmer was like this eccent eccentric? Like just kind of like look, he was a real genius, but he was also just kind of crazy.
SPEAKER_04:So what did they say in the trailer? Like his IQ's higher than Than you can count. Than you can count. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know.
SPEAKER_04:What is that's pretty impressive?
SPEAKER_00:What is this movie even about? I'm not sure if I can describe it. I have an idea.
SPEAKER_04:Play the trailer.
SPEAKER_00:Let's play the trailer.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And then we'll get a sense of what this is about and we'll get a few introductions to some of the characters. So here we go. Okay, so that was the trailer for Real Genius. Anna, your thoughts?
SPEAKER_04:Actually, it just reminded me that I lied once again. There is a fifth cast member that I recognize.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_04:And actually, I really want to give him a shout-out because this guy, even though he wasn't my favorite character by any means in this film, he played Janie's dad. And Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. And I adore that film, also coming down the pipeline. So his name is Ed Lauder. Lauder? L-A-U-T-E-R. I have a hard time saying names, and I just don't feel badly. Anyway, he has since passed, but he had a prolific career.
SPEAKER_00:He Yeah, he's been in a ton of stuff. Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, a ton of stuff. He was in the 76 version of King Kong.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:He was in Cujo, which is a terrifying film. Like I said, Girls Just Want to Have Fun.
SPEAKER_00:Even more terrifying book.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, you would know that since you're Stephen King.
SPEAKER_00:They did not end the same way.
SPEAKER_04:Uh I feel like the movie version came out a little bit happier.
SPEAKER_00:It's been a while since I've either watched or read that story, but I feel like, yeah, there was some differences.
SPEAKER_04:That was totally one of those films where I saw it way too young and was traumatized by it. Anyway, Youngblood.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's that's what I was primarily remembering him from because at one point for my work, I actually had to review director's commentary for Youngblood, and there was a lot of conversation between the director uh and some other people about casting him in that role and his presence in that movie.
SPEAKER_04:I hope they spoke well of him.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, no, he was great. He's great. Okay, good.
SPEAKER_04:Good. Glad to hear that. Do you remember Gleaming the Cube?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, with Christian Slinger.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Yeah. Uh he also had roles in Born on the Fourth of July, School Ties, not another teen movie.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:He was on ER for a while, I guess, so he did some TV, The Long H the Artist, and Shameless. So he he passed recently, but was working up until he did.
SPEAKER_00:I think I can say with confidence that by the time this podcast is over, we are going to accept that we've recognized everyone in the movie and that they're all great.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we just take it one at a time.
SPEAKER_04:So sorry, I I apologize for kind of diverting. To get back to your original question about the trailer.
SPEAKER_00:That trailer was uh it was something.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Um I mean kind of like what we were saying. I know I'm I'm kind of at a loss for words. Lost for words on a podcast is not good. I understand in retrospect why they kind of reframed the film to have it focus on Val Kilmer. And again, I don't know when these choices were made because obviously this was a trailer that came out in real time. So this is this isn't like a trailer that came out for a 30-year, you know, retro revisiting of the film.
SPEAKER_00:This is about no. What's interesting is that you have to kind of dig a little to find that trailer because if you're looking up the movie on Amazon or anywhere else and you try to see a trailer or a preview, it's really just like the first few minutes of the film that they give as a preview and they package it as a trailer, but this is like the actual theatrical trailer for the movie, which which gives one the impression that this story is all about Val Kilmer and this discovery that he has.
SPEAKER_04:And yeah, if I walked into the theater and seen this film, oh, that's something that we didn't talk about. I mean, kind kind of we did. So I don't have any original thoughts of this film because I had never really never really seen it before. You you did already kind of mention how how you felt about it all. So if I had walked into a theater having seen that trailer, I'd honestly be like I'd be confused and also a little pissed because it's it only becomes Val Kilmer's story in the second half of the film. And the whole first half is really just about Mitch Taylor acclimating to being this very young prodigy who, you know, is going into college, doesn't fit in. I mean, it's completely classic trope of like this young kid who just doesn't fit in.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And I mean the the trailer starts off um honestly enough. It the movie itself does begin with this uh sinister meeting of I I don't know, like just just your general random 80s army people, military dudes.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, very talking about stereotyped.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and and actually it opens up with what appears to be a space scene, the spaceship uh lighting up a laser where, I don't know, some drug lord maybe or other kind of nefarious criminal is blasted from his chair while his uh assistant is about to give him a drink. He turns around and just sees like the guy's wicker chair had been blown to death. Yeah, it was amazing. It was an amazing opening. I've never actually seen that opening, because like I said, I've always like tuned in when it was like a little ways into the movie.
SPEAKER_04:We don't usually do this with just like an opening that isn't coming out of like a montage, but and look, I I I do understand how difficult you're like laughing before you even get this out. I I do understand how difficult it is to get any movie produced. It is so hard and so much work goes into it. So I I hate to be like the Debbie Downer and all this, but it is a bad opening. It does not, I I don't I think it it it kind of sets up what the film is gonna be about, but it's it's actually really confusing because you just go from like you said, this like military-esque meeting.
SPEAKER_00:Well, it it starts it starts with the guy getting blasted out of his chair, and you're like, what is happening? Yeah. And then it turns out that was actually just a concept, a presentation, uh, to show the material military what they think they can accomplish with a laser and targeting system. It's it's basically what they were gonna do in um Winter Soldier, Captain America Winter Soldier. Let's have something floating around the earth that can just take out our enemies. Uh, I think it's basically the same movie in every other way as well.
SPEAKER_04:And then we completely shift where we just kind of go away from that for quite a while, and now it just becomes about Mitch.
SPEAKER_00:Well, yeah. We were introduced to some of these army guys. There is one fellow in particular that we see who's kind of like the liaison with Professor what's his name? Hat Hathaway? What am I saying, Hathaway?
SPEAKER_04:Let's see. What is his name? I am buying time. Yep, Hathaway.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So he's on the board with these military guys. He sees someone who objects and thinks that this is uh kind of the wrong direction to go into. He leaves. It is intimated that this guy is now going to be killed for leaving the group.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, it got real dark. So fucking.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's the pressure that this uh that this guy has who's who's liaising with Atherton, is that he's like, if I don't get this done, I and everyone I know might be killed. So he's the one applying pressure to Atherton. Atherton has been working for several years with Chris, Val Kilmer's character, but they've hit speed bumps in creating this high-powered laser. And so Atherton, it kind of sounds like he is like attending high school science fairs, trying to find an actual like genius level prodigy that he can recruit, bring into the campus, and try to get this thing done in time. And so that's how we meet Mitch, who like amongst all these people with like the volcano blowing up with baking soda, he has like some laser array set up at their science fair when Atherton shows up.
SPEAKER_04:So great way of explaining that segue. Good job. Um, yeah, and and honestly, like from there, we have what, a good at least a half hour of it's all about Mitch. Yeah, just like I said, him trying to find his way in this school. And you know, he's very straight-laced, he wears I was saying while we were watching him, like, he's kind of like Alex P. Keaton in terms of like he wears a suit and tie everywhere he goes. I mean, he's not doing himself any favors in terms of like making friends and that sort of thing. Like, he's not a bad kid by any means, but he just isn't lending himself to kind of the social atmosphere. He's not picking up on the social cues, I guess you would say.
SPEAKER_00:No, he's like the stereotypical, like, genius level nerdy guy who can't relate. It's there look, I would rather watch this movie every day of the week over Big Bang Theory. Sorry.
SPEAKER_02:Scandalous.
SPEAKER_00:But
SPEAKER_04:It it kind of gives me like vibes of of that show where I mean what I found though and you brought this up a little bit earlier, we didn't really go into it, but I think one of the things I was most shocked by with this film, because I was like, there's just no way that the like this seems so outlandish. Like everything about the film seems just like plausible.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's wild.
SPEAKER_04:And so that's why when I was kind of doing a little bit of digging, I know we're kind of jumping on this a little bit earlier than we typically do, but I feel like it it works for for right now. It actually is largely the story is largely based on kind of real things that have happened at some of these schools that that the story is modeled on.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean it's it's basically Caltech. Yes, but so they call it Pacific Tech. And so, you know, Mitch is successfully recruited, makes it to Pacific, I'm doing air quotes, Pacific Tech, where he meets Kent, the student villain. We have Atherton, our professor villain.
SPEAKER_04:Hathaway. Let's say that's the first one. Hathaway. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:What's who's Atherton? Is that his real name?
SPEAKER_04:That's his real name. Okay, oh God.
SPEAKER_00:I thought I just spun that out of thin air.
SPEAKER_04:No, no, it's cool. It's cool.
SPEAKER_00:So we have Hathaway Atherton. And sure. And we have Kent, who is basically like his student Tony.
SPEAKER_04:That's awful, man. They really crafted some very unlikable characters in this film.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I don't know why they had the one student who had this like inexplicable stuttering problem that in like one scene, Hathaway references that he fixed as stuttering, and then another scene he kind of has it again. They never really make much out of it. It was just weird that they had that in there.
SPEAKER_04:But there's a lot of weird in this film.
SPEAKER_00:But that those are some of the things that happen when Mitch first encounters Kent and the other like wackies, I guess, where he's meant to feel like he's the food. He they they called him DoorDash.
SPEAKER_04:They did?
SPEAKER_00:They didn't really call him DoorDash because it didn't exist.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, they thought that he was just a delivery boy.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, don't you have the sandwiches? Then what are you doing here? And turns out he's there to check all their work. Yeah. And it turns out like these kids don't like that.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, it's it's a very kind of classic dynamic where it's like this young upstart, and then soda speak kind of is kind of like I wouldn't say he's like the big man on campus, but he he definitely has he he thinks he is, yeah. And I kind of understand. I mean, Hathaway doesn't again do Mitch any favors because he doesn't even formally introduce him to this group. He doesn't try to like massage the Hathaway doesn't have any time for that. He doesn't care.
SPEAKER_00:He really's gotta get a laser belter, he's dead.
SPEAKER_04:Exactly. So I I feel bad for Mitch because he was never gonna win. He was never going to befriend these people, given the situation that Hathaway threw him into.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Um but Kent, he's and those Chief Man, those I could not get I've never seen anybody like they were meant to be braces, but they just look like silver covered teeth. I mean, it's awful.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, I think they were intended to be I I I don't know if they were real or probably not, but they were I think they you wanted they wanted you to notice them because they were important later in the movie.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Um but what I wanted to say as far as like, so you're right, uh that the story is inspired by and loosely based on Caltech and Pasadena. Yeah. But then also some of the like really crazy stuff that the other students do. So here's the thing that really surprised me is that Mitch is this very focused young man who wants to impress Hathaway and and he also just enjoys the work. He he wants to be doing all this work.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Whereas all these other geniuses at the school, it seems like all they do is party.
SPEAKER_00:And and yeah, it does, yeah. It seems like with a few exceptions, they're not actually doing any schoolwork. It's yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Which when I again, when I was reading like some of the funny things that you see in the film, like for instance, they manage to create kind of this uh tobogganing.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah, they no, they create uh a level of ice in the movie. They create, and this is um actually pretty close to the beginning of the movie when I think it's it's shortly after Mitch first meets Chris, uh Val Kilmer, and the floors are frozen, and Val Kilmer has ice skates on and he's pirouetting around when Kent shows up and is pissed because he wants to study. What a dick.
SPEAKER_04:But everybody else is also having fun.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, they're all having fun.
SPEAKER_04:And that's based on like a real event that happened. And like what I noticed is that in reading about this, so they also kind of pulled some of these stories from other really kind of high-end schools. I don't even know if you would say it that way, but like MIT, Cambridge University. Yeah. So these places were it really flipped on its head, for me at least, the perception of what these schools would be like. And hearing that some of these things really did happen was shocking to me. And another thing I read, which I thought was so interesting, is that I guess the costume designer went on campus to some of these schools. And what you see in the film is that, and like Vel Kilmer, he kind of he definitely has a style.
SPEAKER_00:His introduction in the movie is him at what is a job interview, but in the loosest sense of that term, because he already knows that he has the job. So he's wearing a shirt that says, I love toxic waste, and then wearing some like little springy antenna thing on his head.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. So he has a really unique style, but kind of all the kids, well, even Mitch, but in an opposite end of the spectrum, have these styles. And I guess that also was mimicking kind of and what I read is that these kids were so distracted by just like their studies and whatever, they just literally didn't care what they wore. And I saw a quote from the costume designer saying, like, do these kids dress in the dark? Because they that that's exactly how they were. So I found that all really fascinating.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I we've we've done this a few times now, and we've looked at the trivia, and the trivia that we find on most of these titles will be like a blurb here or there. And I feel like the trivia for a real genius is a is a damn paragraph for everyone explaining the logistics and physics of all the time.
SPEAKER_04:It doesn't. It doesn't.
SPEAKER_00:Um, but I think all of the all the stories themselves or the trivia doesn't none of those collectively translate well to a podcast, but I think it's interesting that so much of the ridiculous things you see happen in the movie, like there's a point when uh during one of the first montages, actually the first montage, about half an hour in, when it's uh Mitch's adventure in in college, basically. So it's him going to classes and stuff, and in one of the classes, one of the lecture halls, you see um a few people with with boom boxes basically to record the professor. And eventually, I think towards the end of the montage, it's the professor leaving a boom box, playing the lecture with other boom boxes recording it, and that actually happened.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I found I did find that really fascinating, and I've never been more surprised that that was pulled from real life because it seemed so absurd. So I thought that was really cool personally.
SPEAKER_00:I think if they captured some of these weird antics, I think they probably did a less accurate job of capturing like the personalities and dialogue because what what is what's um Mitch's romantic introduction? Jordan. Jordan is introduced also in the winter paradise as she has a bobsled going down the stairs and sliding through. And well, what's your opinion of Jordan's character?
SPEAKER_04:So my opinion of Jordan's character is probably really similar to my opinion of Lex Luthor in the new Batman versus Superman movies, and and my my response to so um what's his name? Uh Eisenberg.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah, Jesse Eisenberg.
SPEAKER_04:Jesse Eisenberg. I respect an actor's choices and in the roles that they take on, but I think sometimes it's not the right choice.
SPEAKER_00:And she brought the energy.
SPEAKER_04:She brought the energy.
SPEAKER_00:I give her that much credit because that can't be easy.
SPEAKER_04:They she you know, I'll say this much though. Would you agree that that those like quirks, I'll put it that way, the quirks that she had kind of ease up as the film goes on.
SPEAKER_00:They do. It's like a caricature of like I I don't even know how to describe it. She I think she does say that she never sleeps. Right. And she's just like this manic personality who talks like a hundred thousand miles a minute, and within the first 30 seconds of her being introduced in the movie, I'm like, oh my god. Oh my god. And then you realize, oh my god, she's gonna be in this whole thing.
SPEAKER_04:She's a big character. Yeah. So I'm so grateful that they kind of eased up on those aspects of her personality because it's just not sustainable. Like, she's just when you first meet her, like, I think you're supposed to like her. I mean, he's she's going to be Mitch's love interest, and she is really hard to take in more than like 10 second doses.
SPEAKER_00:Is it possible that some of the social awkward with awkwardness was just part of meeting this newer group of people, and once that like social group had kind of solidified a little bit more, she had relaxed. Or is it possible that I'm reading into it a little bit too much and someone said, like, you need to tone it down?
SPEAKER_04:You're doing a deep dive into the psychological, the psyche of Jordan. Um, I don't know. I mean, I don't I don't know what to say there. I mean, because here's the thing again, most of the time films are not shot in chronological order, but if there was anything to them in this film and they're seeing the dailies and they're like, whoa boy, then that could have been the reason why she becomes more tolerable as the film goes on. I don't know. I don't know. But um, and actually speaking of Jordan, so the actress, she kind of had her heyday, it seems, in the 80s, and then she, I don't know, she just decided to go in a different direction. So her name is Michelle Mayrink, but uh of her other work, she was in The Outsiders. She also was in Valley Girl. So another next one, yeah. Yeah, no, did you recognize her? I did not. Okay. No, I did not recognize her. And Revenge of the Nerds.
SPEAKER_00:The original Revenge of the Nerds. Yeah. That's interesting. Okay, well, that I think is also on the list. So we'll uh we'll find out more about that.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, so just wanted to give her props. And and again, like it's hard to say. Usually those kinds of decisions are made between an actor and a director. Coolidge obviously must have been fine with it. She's far more successful as a director than I will ever be. So, like, you know, it it just is as an audience member, as somebody viewing the film, I had a hard time with her.
SPEAKER_00:She was a lot to take in. Yeah. Thankfully, she was probably the peak of that type of character. There was no one else who was quite that that manic, although Val Kilmer gets a little close.
SPEAKER_04:He gets close. I mean, I would say ostensibly, he's in some ways the most normal of all the all the student characters.
SPEAKER_00:He is in kind of like uh Ryan Reynolds Van Wilder kind of way almost, where he makes it very clear that he is super smart, but also just too cool to waste time on being smart because he wants to have fun.
SPEAKER_04:The one thing I can appreciate is this. So I think in some ways, I don't know if now I'm going and doing a deep dive here.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, let's do it.
SPEAKER_04:I think the film might be a little bit ahead of its time in terms of showing acceptance for people who maybe are socially awkward and don't fit into a normal construct of you know how you are social and now I know now I know why I like this movie so much growing up. So I I think that that's awesome because one thing that they didn't do in this film is try to change those characters. I think that they all had growth, including Laszlo. I don't think they I don't think there was ever a point where the other characters were trying to change Laszlo. And just, you know, you mentioned him earlier on. He's he's basically uh the way that Chris describes him is that he's smarter than him and Mitch put together.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_04:And that he was kind of the big guy on campus in the 70s, but because he was so focused on his work, he kind of cracked. And so that's why he all of a sudden becomes this hermit that lives in you know, where where does he live again?
SPEAKER_00:Underneath like he lives in the in the steam like boiler room.
SPEAKER_04:Steam tunnels or something like that.
SPEAKER_00:And so that actually comes up when uh you know, Mitch kind of gets led not really astray, but but um Chris Val Kilmer takes him under his wing and tries to get him to enjoy his time in college and brings him to a party. The party's broken up, Mitch feels awful, he tries to call his parents to get back home.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Because he's 15. Let's keep in mind he's a 15-year-old.
SPEAKER_00:He's a kid. The fact that he's 15 is definitely gonna come up because I like his romantic interest with college students problematic. I mean, not for him as much as it is for Jordan, but he he feels bad. He calls home, it's kind of an embarrassing call. Kent records it, plays it during the next day. Like a cafeteria, yeah, and humiliates him. And so while he's while Mitch is contemplating leaving school, Chris has a kind of a sit-down, more serious. There are a few moments that aren't just Chris acting crazy. And he was telling him, Look, I was you when I first started. I was all straight-laced and wearing the suit coat and carrying a briefcase. And then I met this guy, Laszlo, who lost his mind, is now living in the steam room. And that's where you're gonna end up if you don't find a way to basically it was about achieving some sort of balance in life. And I thought that was kind of more ahead of its time as well.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, very much agree with that.
SPEAKER_00:So that and the other part of what you had mentioned that I wanted to reach back and talk about is not necessarily changing these characters, and in contrast to a movie like Revenge of the Nerds, where it's like these nerdy kids who are smart and they have to somehow change to fit in and be cool, all of these kids at Pacific Tech are very secure about like who they are and how they act. Like they have they don't really give a shit that they might be like nerdy or or looked down upon by the cool kids because they know that they're basically smarter than everyone.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So I kind of appreciated that they were just, although they were in some cases incredibly annoying, they were just like they were just themselves.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, as much as I'm gonna like rag on all the antics of Jordan, I mean she she just was who she was.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And I can appreciate that. So uh let's see. Okay, so we've okay, so here's the thing. We've talked at length now about Mitch and Mitch and kind of his acclamation. You brought up kind of the the big central crisis for him, which is that he has this phone call of his recorded and and everybody hears it. So after Chris talks him off the ledge and says, like, you're gonna be fine, let's get some revenge on Kent. Yeah, um, they do so, but then that's I think where the shift happens in the story. Would would you agree?
SPEAKER_00:Because that's when Hathaway That's when things really start getting moving because we've known throughout the movie that that really underlying everything is this desire for the military to get this laser from Hathaway, and that's the source of the pressure unbeknownst to Val Kilmer's character. They have to uh create this high-powered laser, they don't know why. That kind of gets like picked up after Mitch decides to stay because they actually start making some progress on that. Um, actually, the the prank that they pull on Kent to get back was another actual real prank where they disassemble his vehicle and leave it in his dorm running.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. That I read that too. That was amazing.
SPEAKER_00:So they they get moving. I think the the interesting thing is that once Mitch decides to commit and knows he's not gonna leave, I think that's when Hathaway tells Val Kilmer's character, you're done.
SPEAKER_04:Exactly.
SPEAKER_00:Like even if you pass, you fail.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So it goes from one to the other with these two scenarios.
SPEAKER_04:And that's something that uh I remember bringing up when we were watching this. I think it's interesting how now they're now I'm like counting off the number of films where it's high schoolers or college kids who are kind of in this battle with like bad uh teachers or professors or higher-ups in higher education, and this made me think of a similar scenario in old school. Uh yeah, old school. Yeah, old school. Um, Animal House.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Uh didn't we mentioned another one? I just thought that was kind of interesting. And so essentially, same thing here. Hathaway has seemingly all the power, and even though Chris has been doing this incredible work for him for several years, and there's no reason to not pass him, he's he's just going to kind of arbitrarily ruin his life.
SPEAKER_00:He's sick of his uh shit, basically, because four years ago he was Mitch and he was highly motivated, and now he's you know, look, he doesn't know that that lives could be on the line with it. He thinks that he's just been trying to solve this problem for years and he's kind of over it and he's ready to graduate and just get paid. And um did I call him Atherton again? Hathaway? Hatherton?
SPEAKER_04:Hatherton. Uh yeah, so so then moving on, if you want to kind of explain how kind of last third, last act of the film.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so Mitch, I think, has a little bit of a of not necessarily a breakthrough breakthrough, but things are progressing and they're getting ready for their uh finals. And because Mitch has convinced uh Chris to look, you you gotta stick with it, you gotta take the final, no matter what. Like, Rosenway.
SPEAKER_04:Like they they're it's a really nice friendship between them.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we're gonna finish this.
SPEAKER_04:They're really supportive of each other.
SPEAKER_00:And so they're working on the laser, Kent is in the lab with them, and when they go, He's such a douche. He stays behind, and you know, Chris says something about like, Are are you coming? And he says, Yeah, I just need to head to the bathroom first. And I think Chris's response is, Is that really gonna be the best thing for your confidence? I appreciated that joke. It was fine.
SPEAKER_03:It was a good joke.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it was fine. Um so what he does is he gets some oil on his hand and smears it over one of the um uh lenses, yeah, for the for the laser. Val Kilmer aces the test. He actually writes in a note, like, I ace this. Uh Hatherton throws his test away, throws the apple away that he left, which turned out to be an explosive, which would have gotten him expelled. Um any case, he gets back to the lab, he's right back from the test, he immediately powers the laser back up, and the uh blurry optics cause the entire thing to melt down. So he's he's lost everything. All of the work that he's been putting into it is destroyed. Um I'm not so he he kind of flips out in like a common area where there's a freezer and uh like a cylinder of frozen CO2, I think, falls out.
SPEAKER_04:Liquid nitrogen.
SPEAKER_00:Is it is that what it is? Okay, yeah. So he he finds that and offers some real thorough scientific-sounding explanation of how he has now thought of uh the actual power source for the laser.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And it's pretty exciting. Everyone is really amped up for this. He even goes back to Hatherton's house and tells him Hothaway. Yeah, I know. I'm doing it on purpose now. Okay. He uh he tells him that he did it. And you actually hear that in the trailer, like I've I've done it, or you did it. Um so they they run a test sample and it blows like a laser, I think, three times around the planet Earth.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I mean, he creates the universe. Yeah, exactly. It's like what the Death Star uses when it destroys a planet.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, the only thing it was missing was like noise.
SPEAKER_04:But other than that, it was it was yeah, amazing.
SPEAKER_00:Not bad special effects for 85 in a comedy featuring Val Kilmer.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, pretty good.
SPEAKER_00:Pretty good. So it's immediately stolen. That that much is true.
SPEAKER_04:Well, essentially, Hathaway is like, you did it. The kids, don't they like go out to celebrate? They go get a burger, like because they keep seeing where this laser has.
SPEAKER_00:They follow the laser to some burger place where the um, yeah, the image of the burger on the billboard is now just like a ring of fire. So they're like, yeah, let's go here.
SPEAKER_04:And then while that's happening, they kind of have a realization.
SPEAKER_00:Laszlo shows up.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Who had been helping them a little bit throughout this process or listening because that's what creepy guys living in the steam room do. He comes in and asks, okay, so you built this, like basically you built the Death Star. What do you use the Death Star for?
SPEAKER_02:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00:Uh what other application could it have aside from military?
SPEAKER_04:Exactly. And uh And so Chris runs back to the lab.
SPEAKER_00:He's super bummed.
SPEAKER_04:And that's when he realizes that all the equipment's been taken because Hathaway has now brought it over to the US military.
SPEAKER_00:And he also realizes that Kent had been working on a tracking system and mirror, excuse me, which used in connection with the laser would allow it to be used from orbit and just blast away targets indiscriminately.
SPEAKER_04:So yeah, pretty heavy stuff. This movie's hilarious. Yeah. Um so now we're down to the like the final conflict or whatever. The res like the final climax.
SPEAKER_00:You think you're just watching a college comedy kind of and suddenly it's guys breaking onto an Air Force base. Exactly and and like possibly facing death.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You know? Maybe.
SPEAKER_04:Well, also, it it's interesting how they have this like dual setup because Chris and Mitch, yeah, like you said, they make it onto the military base.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I think his name, what what was Chris's no, Mitch's name was like Giuseppe or something with a mustache?
SPEAKER_04:I don't know. It was weird. Great mustache, great disguise. Uh so they make it onto the military base, but then also as kind of like essentially like a fuck you, to Hathaway, they also set up this amazing prank inside of his house. Uh, because he was it that the house was just built, or he just has a he loves this house.
SPEAKER_00:He's getting this house built throughout the movie. I mean, and as the movie opens, it's several workers working on various facets of the house. This uh was it a great Dane that keeps on showing up at the house?
SPEAKER_04:Well keeps I don't think it was Great Dane.
SPEAKER_00:This big dog keeps on showing up at the house, and Hathaway keeps telling the dog to go away like over and over again. I don't know, I don't understand that running joke, but it happens.
SPEAKER_04:Which, if you didn't hate him for any other reason, the fact that he doesn't like dogs.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So okay, so Chris, Mitch, and Laszlo are all working together now. And Jordan. And Jordan and some other guy whose name I cannot remember.
SPEAKER_04:Um, well, there's a guy named Fenton or Fenton. I don't think he talks in the entire film.
SPEAKER_00:I think he just screams at one point.
SPEAKER_04:He's always he's always like kind of there. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So they work with each other to drug Kent. They install a device in his braces to make him believe that he's hearing not the voice of God, but the voice of Jesus, who then compels Kent to give up the goods on what all of this equipment is going to be used for and where they might be able to go to stop it. They do go to the military base, which has really lax security protocol, by the way, allowing them to not only get on the base but into this like secret laser bombing.
SPEAKER_04:It's pretty easy for them.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it didn't seem like a problem at all. They go in and set up a connection with Laszlo from the plane, um, basically setting up a hotspot in 1985, which worked surprisingly well, and reset all of the latitude-longitude coordinates so that while the test was supposedly going to involve what seemed to look like a recreation of the JFK assassination.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, very bizarre.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. You see all these limos lined up, and I'm like, huh.
SPEAKER_04:All these black cars, single file.
SPEAKER_00:Really weird. But they they alter the coordinates so that the laser in fact cuts Hatherton's house in half while also setting off the largest container of Jiffy Pop that you've ever seen in your life, while also using the voice of Jesus to get Kent at the front door of the house at the moment the popcorn's ignited.
SPEAKER_04:It's a pretty amazing plan.
SPEAKER_00:There's a lot going on, a lot of moving pieces.
SPEAKER_04:All came together. Uh yeah, and that was another thing that I mean, I can't say that this was a prank that was based off of something that they again pulled from real life, but the prank in the movie was real. Like that was real popcorn.
SPEAKER_00:It was.
SPEAKER_04:Real popcorn.
SPEAKER_00:But the real popcorn was also treated with um uh chemicals to keep it from igniting on fire.
SPEAKER_04:I guess that's good.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, which is good, but then they had a big problem because birds kept trying to come in and eat the popcorn. That's right. And they had to shoe the birds off because it would have killed all the wildlife. Exactly.
SPEAKER_04:But this popcorn, so no joke, it fills the entire house. They used a real home. And because of the amount of popcorn and the like energy that it created and popping, it literally did pop the roof off of the house.
SPEAKER_00:That's amazing.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. I mean, so props to the crew for making that happen. Um, I thought that was pretty impressive.
SPEAKER_00:I yeah, I didn't think that was actually a real house, so that was cool. The only the only problem, I guess, with their plan was that Kent was told, by Jesus, not to go in the house.
SPEAKER_04:And he did it anyway.
SPEAKER_00:And he looks up at the sky and and says, Jesus, if you're not gonna respond to me, I'm just gonna walk in. And of course, he doesn't because they have other things that they're working on at the moment.
SPEAKER_04:I was actually quite worried about him for a minute because the popcorn is popping and he is like kind of like deliriously.
SPEAKER_00:He's nuts at that point.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah, he's kind of lost his mind. But I mean, you could you could legitimately suffocate.
SPEAKER_00:It reminded me of uh the scene from Witness.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00:Where the guy is uh smothered in a silo.
SPEAKER_04:It reminded me of gosh, what was this? Uh Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, with the Sandman?
SPEAKER_04:Yes, with the Sandman. That's what it reminded me of. So so yeah, and that is how Real Genius ends.
SPEAKER_00:It ends to this tune of Tears for Fears.
SPEAKER_04:That was one of the things I was most impressed by in this film. And actually, going back to the montages in this film, yeah. That first one that you talked about when Mitch is, you know, finding his way in school, so that is uh playing to the song of I'm Falling by the ComSat Angels. Yeah. Never heard of them. Great song.
SPEAKER_00:It's not look, the montages in this movie make me kind of wish that the entire movie was just one long montage because they were great. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, a little bit on the long side, but they, you know, like you were saying, for this first one where it's really about Mitch, it moves the story along. The second one that is mostly about Chris, same thing. Like it kind of gets us through a certain time period that they have to. And throughout all of them, like I thought the soundtrack was like really, really well done.
SPEAKER_00:It's solidly 80s.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah. And then to have this film end with Tears for Fears, I was like, holy cow, that's it's kind of surprising. Surprising, yeah. And I will say that like I didn't know if like, look, I love Tears for Fears. I don't know if that particular song like was in the tone of this film. It's like a little bit more serious than it was kind of like um Hathaway's Swan Song.
SPEAKER_00:Like, here's the song for you. You wanted to rule the world. It's very like literal.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, it was a little on the nose, and I'm sure that's why they picked it. But um anyway, overall, very impressed by the soundtrack.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and then also at the end, we don't want to forget about Laszlo, who throughout the course of the movie, uh Mitch actually kind of sneaks down and initially sees him printing out, you know, a ton of stuff. We're not really sure what it is. Turns out he was uh printing and preparing to send out uh intrigues. Into a Frito-Lay sweepstakes, which said enter as often as you like. So he did. And I think he won maybe I think in the movie it says he won a third of the uh of the prizes, which again is based on like actual events.
SPEAKER_01:Is it? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Some students calculated their odds, entered. Uh they won. They didn't win win as many, but they did win like a station wagon, a bunch of other prizes.
SPEAKER_04:So yeah, I am I am fascinated by all these things that they pulled from real life, but more power to them. So fun facts.
SPEAKER_00:Laid on me.
SPEAKER_04:We've we've talked about a lot of them. I mean, honestly, the Yeah. I mean, the biggest ones were the fact that, as we were just saying, so much of this was based on real things. The antics, not necessarily the laser used for military purposes. But uh I mentioned this and we missed this, so we're gonna have to go back to this, uh go back to the tape. But Tom Hanks is an extra. He is, yeah. We we'll need to re-watch and find him because I think one of those like blinking you miss it type moments. But apparently, Mitch bumps into him in a crowd at approximately 11 minutes and 54 seconds into the film.
SPEAKER_00:We'll have to factor.
SPEAKER_04:So go yeah, go check on that for us, guys.
SPEAKER_00:Before it's a fun fact, we have to make sure it's an actual fact.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I I mean I feel like that's real.
SPEAKER_00:Could be a hoax.
SPEAKER_04:Okay. So here's okay, here is my maybe most favorite fun fact of like any film that we've talked about so far.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_04:So I don't know if you noticed this, but Vel Kilmer has like a hand trick that he has worked into several of his films. And I think it starts with real genius. In that first montage, when he is like sitting at his desk in a class, he has the ability to roll uh coins down his fingers. Oh, and so he does that in that montage. There's another moment later in the film where he very smoothly kind of uh flips around a wrench in his hand, and so he has carried that on with him because so he does that with the coins in Roll Genius.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_04:So yeah, I mean, he's the most amazing Doc Holliday. You probably know that coin roll down the fingers more from that film. Yeah. Because that's highlighted. And then also in Top Gun, Iceman, another role that I love him in, he kind of does something similar with a pen when they're sitting outside. I can remember that, yeah. So he just has this thing that he can do, and it's worked into a lot of of his films, and I think that's really cool.
SPEAKER_00:Huh. That is good. Does he do it in so how many of his films has he?
SPEAKER_04:Those are the only three that I know for sure. I mean, I another film, honestly, right behind Doc Holliday. I absolutely adore him in the movie Heat by Michael Mann.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know like Thunderheart.
SPEAKER_04:He's yeah, Thunderheart is good. Um, but I would I mean I only think sell that once.
SPEAKER_00:So I have another fun fact.
SPEAKER_04:Sure.
SPEAKER_00:One of the professors who is kind of like he he's a professor who's kind of going through like a fellow kids from Reddit kind of phase where he'll say something and he's like, the kids love it when I say this.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00:Um he's he's like he seems genuinely like just a nerdy but brilliant guy. Sure. Turns out he is actually a physics professor at USC.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, that's cool.
SPEAKER_00:Uh Dr. Martin Gunderson, the math professor. Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:That's awesome. I mean, I still love my Vale Kilmer fun fact.
SPEAKER_00:Your fun fact is funner. It's definitely a lot funner.
SPEAKER_04:I was very proud of that one. Um, but that's that's kinda that's kind of all I got because we talked about it a lot already.
SPEAKER_00:We have talked about quite a bit, yeah. I think I think I look, I think we're good on Real Genius.
SPEAKER_04:I think we've covered- I think we have very comprehensively followed.
SPEAKER_00:We've honestly covered more than I thought we could possibly cover for this movie.
SPEAKER_04:So, okay, so let's uh wrap up with some of our questions. I will pose this to you first.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_04:Would you watch this film again?
SPEAKER_00:I probably would. Um there, especially like the the second half of the movie is a little bit more like fun. There's a little bit more going on. I think the beginning of it in particular is it's strange to say it's like build-up, but it's like them kind of like laying down the groundwork for what's gonna happen later on in the movie. So I I would definitely watch it again. It's just one of those like stupid comfort film type movies for me.
SPEAKER_04:That's what I was just gonna say. I don't think this is this could possibly be a film where I just sit down and watch it, watch it again. But if I was like cleaning the house or something like that, because you're right, I was thinking about that last night. I think that films like this, where on the surface you're like, oh, this is just like so dumb and and ridiculous and absurd. I don't think these films actually get enough credit because sometimes that's exactly what you need. And you know, at the top of the episode, we talked about how obviously right now, um, there's a lot going on in the world, and you know, it could provoke a lot of different emotions in people, um anxiety and fear and that sort of thing. And I think that these films do so much in times like this to help you forget for a couple hours and put a smile on your face. And I don't think there's anything wrong with saying that you love a totally absurd, silly film like this.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, it is absurd, and I do love it.
SPEAKER_04:So, and that's the reason why I love comedies. I think that just as a whole, again, I could go down a whole rabbit hole with this, but comedies in general don't get enough credit because they can bring so much joy to a person's life, especially in times where, you know, things are kind of tough for people. And so, yeah, while this isn't a film that I'm gonna like sit down and watch, I can appreciate it. And I think that it certainly has a place. And I I think that's great. I think that there's room for all kinds of films, and and this definitely deserves a place in terms of you know bringing joy in that way to people.
SPEAKER_00:I think we can all agree that it deserves its rightful place in cinematic history.
SPEAKER_04:Sure.
SPEAKER_00:And and all of the accolades that that that that would bring about. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:So I have a a small call to action.
SPEAKER_02:Related to this movie. Sure.
SPEAKER_00:What and and trying to keep it like not too crazy, but what's the uh the best prank that that you've ever either like seen or witnessed or been part of when you were in school?
SPEAKER_04:That's so crazy because that's what I was gonna say. Wow, we we didn't plan this. That's amazing. Totally didn't plan this. Totally didn't plan this. Yeah, I mean, I'm trying to think. Did you have anything fun that I mean I kind of feel like you have stories? I was more boring as a kid.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, there were there were there were pranks.
SPEAKER_04:I don't I don't want to self-incriminate.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, yeah, I don't want to bring any of them up right now, but I mean, yeah, some of them involved, yeah. No, I'm not gonna go there.
SPEAKER_04:Okay, okay, fair enough. But sure, for everybody out there, if there is a fun prank that uh you would like to share with us, we'd love to hear it. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. It's the same handle for all three. It's at 80smontagepod 80s montage pod. And yeah, so that's it. Um What's up next? A favorite, my pick.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_04:Dirty Dancing. Oh shit. I carried a watermelon.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, this is okay.
SPEAKER_04:This is a biggie. Yeah. This is a biggie for sure. Um, really excited about it.
SPEAKER_00:And I think we are gonna have a guest for this.
SPEAKER_04:We are going to have a self-proclaimed, and I would agree with this proclamation.
SPEAKER_00:Super fan.
SPEAKER_04:Dirty dancing super fan.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. So it's gonna be good. She's gonna she's gonna have some fun stuff to talk about.
SPEAKER_00:I'm very much looking forward to that.
SPEAKER_04:Me too. Okay. Thanks for joining us, everybody. And again, uh, we really appreciate you hanging with us. Please, again, stay safe and healthy and sane during this time. And we'll see you in a couple weeks. All right.
SPEAKER_01:Adios. Bye.