Growing up when I did we didn’t have any of the cool tech that kids take for granted these days. Realizing I just sounded like my father, it doesn’t change the fact that if we wanted to cheat we had to do things that make me feel like a caveman. Now I never cheated on any tests in school ‘ahem’, but for this review we will pretend I did as I pull out methods I have only seen in movies. Back in my day we would have to put the test answers on some sunglasses or maybe a decorative animal or whatever we could get. Of course those were simpler times, where now with the help of technology it is equally easier as it is harder to cheat on a test.
Like anything else, where there is a will, there is a way you can almost beat anything. Lynn (Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying) is one of those super smart people; I believe they call them genius. Her talents really show in math, so she is one of those people that made school look way to easy. Because of her smarts her father has put her in a better school. At this new school she meets Grace (Eisaya Hosuwan), who eventually asks Lynn to tutor her, something Lynn reluctantly agrees to. It is after the first text that Grace tells Lynn her boyfriend Pat (Teeradon Supapunpinyo) also needs help, and if she were to help him pass the test he would pay her. While most of the kids at this school come from well-to-do families Lynn does not, and the appeal of that money is too alluring. Soon Lynn is helping an army of kids as she works out a system to give them the answers by mocking playing a piano for the different answers. Of course all good things come to an end and Lynn gets caught, but with the help of the other smart kid in school Bank (Chanon Santinatornkol), they aren’t done. The question becomes is their smarts and with the money of so many enough to pull off a cheaters dream?
Pulling off a good High School film can always be a tough thing. Some work has become the films of a generation, others just fall to the wayside and like many of your own High School classmates, never to be heard from again. “Bad Genius” doesn’t feel like a generations film, but what it is, is a hell of a fun movie. Often reminding me of Justin Lin’s 2002 film“Better Luck Tomorrow”, it also dives into smart kids going bad, but also because of the feel. With “Bad Genuis”, writers Tanida Hataweenatana, Vasudhorn Piyaromna, and Nattawut Poonpiriya, the later also directing, blend a high school movie with a heist movie kind of feel. You get pulled into the tension of them trying to not get caught as they try and carry out what seems like the perfect plan. Both Chuengcharoensukying and Santinatornkul are fantastic, but so is the rest of the cast. This movie is just plain fun and above all good and like any movie about breaking bad ends how you would want it to. So see “Bad Genius” for ideas, but stay for what is a pretty good time.
