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Real Genius is one of those movies that is known for its one-liners. That should not be a surprise considering that one of its writers, Pat Proft, wrote a lot of the great ones for such comedy classics as The Naked Gun films. In fact, this movie really lives and dies with the dialogue, since many of the visual jokes fall flat. It is Kilmer who shines in this movie; the previous he had played it pretty stiff in Top Secret!, but in Genius he lets it all hang out, infusing Knight with a surprising amount of energy and verve, and in the process demonstrating what a fine comedic actor he really is. Too bad he hasn't been in one since...

Also deserving of praise is Atherton, and if you do not recognize the name, you might recognize his typical role - the guy you love to hate. Atherton does not usually play super villains, but he does play the type of snotty, headstrong character who is endlessly annoying. In Real Genius, his role is pretty much summed up when he haughtily says to the men working on his house, "What are you looking at? You're laborers! You should be laboring. That's what you get for not having an education!"

Real Genius has always been one of my favorite comedies, but then again I was a teenager when I caught it for the first time one Saturday afternoon on a local channel. Despite the fact that words like "penis" had been censored and replaced with absurd substitutes, I still found it incredibly funny and extremely likeable. Now, having aged if not matured quite a bit since then, the movie does seem stupid at times. The special effects are weak, weak, weak, and the ending is too goofy and cheery for my taste. The opening third is a little rough around the edges, as it seems like a lot of abrupt cutting had to be done in order to keep the good one-liners and delete the bad ones. But, some of the dialogue is priceless, and add in some charming characters and good performances, and you have a pretty damn good movie in the usually pathetic teen comedy genre.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Except for the fortunate laserdisc owners, for several years fans of Real Genius have been stuck with the lackluster pan and scan version of the movie on television and VHS. Unlike most comedies, Real Genius was filmed in 2.35:1 scope. What this means is, when the picture is shown in its "full screen version," the viewer is actually missing out on nearly half of the frame area. Having seen the "full screen version" many times, the 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen version on this DVD is a breath of fresh air, with much better composition, particularly when it comes to the photography of the colorful sets. (Admittedly, the "full screen version" is somewhat passable for Real Genius compared to other movies because this movie rarely has the problem of characters being chopped off on the sides like you would see in a movie like Star Wars. That being said, you could not pay me to watch the pan and scan version again.)

All in all I was pleased with the picture quality, though the picture takes on a soft texture in several places. Some shots are very detailed, while others seem a little hazy. Less bothersome is the occasional slight graininess, with a few minor specks and scratches appearing now and then. Colors are solid but unspectacular, though I was impressed by the look of Hathaway's house, which was a lot more colorful than I remembered it.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

This 2.0 Dolby surround track is nothing to write home about. The dialogue level is a little low. The surrounds are used minimally, with ambience being their main function. A scene near the end of the movie involving an airplane was the only time I noticed their use to the exclusion of the other speakers. Left/right directional effects are similarly limited in the front soundstage, but opportunities for such effects are few and far between in this movie.

The music actually sounded great, whether it be the scratchy opening credit song (straight from a scratchy record) or the synthpop classics that pervade the rest of the movie. Inexplicably a Real Genius soundtrack was never released. I have a feeling they were unable to secure the rights to release "All She Wants to Do Is Dance," "One Night Love Affair," and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," since all those songs were on very popular albums. So popular, in fact, that I owned the cassettes of all three!

Also included are English Closed Captions and English, French and Spanish subtitles.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

What the #&#@! happened here? No extras are to be found, unless you count two lame full frame trailers for the equally lame Hook and Jumanji. It felt like I was watching a DVD release by Columbia from 1998, back when the preponderance of their discs were bare bones. For whatever reason the trailer for Real Genius has not been included, even though it is available to watch on the Internet (it is a legal download if you know where to look.)

Speaking of that trailer, it contains a glimpse of a scene where Chris is sitting on a chair that is floating in the air thanks to some attached balloons. Alas, this tantalizing scene was not included in the actual movie. Considering the rough way that the film is cut during the early scenes, it is probable that several scenes/lines of dialogue were cut out during the editing process. Martha Coolidge directed this film, and for those of you who do not follow Hollywood politics, Ms. Coolidge is now the president of the Directors Guild of America. One would think that with that kind of power Coolidge could have requested and got a more fully featured DVD from Columbia if she had so desired. It is possible that a special edition release will appear in the future, but it seems very unlikely at this time. If they do make a special edition, I pray to God that they use better cover art, because the cover art for this DVD is godawful. (I've thrown up better looking artwork.) Columbia has not done anything this embarrassingly bad since its pathetic remake of Godzilla.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

No ROM extras have been included.

Parting Thoughts