Immediately, his gently sardonic, self-effacing persona is evident : ‘.at the edge of financial ruin, always’ delivered in feather-light tones, kicking the show off with ‘The Death of the Modern Novel’ AKA ‘Always’. Yet, it’s all so unassuming.Ī few minutes after the scheduled start time, Mr Forster and Lewis, his son, emerge nonchalantly onto the stage. A microphone stands tall and unadorned, no posters, some vinyl on sale at the back and close to 150 eager audience members ready to experience the return of one of the world’s finest living songwriters. However, it's hard to empathize with Chris when he's focusing all of his mental energy on a pool party while dedicating no afterthought to building a deadly space laser.On my first visit to this Cowley-based venue, used mainly for Comedy gigs, I was greeted by neatly laid out yellow chairs fronting an unassuming stage, betraying the presence of musicians with two acoustic guitars and one cream-coloured bass. There's nothing dark about this scene aside from the fact that Mitch feels out of place, which makes sense because he's 15. How does one college senior handle all of this? Lastly, he has to find time to invite the girls to the party. It's a cool idea, but it's so blown out of proportion that it's hard to fathom how one person could put the whole thing together.įirst, Chris has to set up a complicated series of mirrors around the campus to reflect a laser beam that hits a 'laser splitter' to spell 'Tanning Invitational.' Then he has to erect multiple giant rubber slides, a huge pool, and extra-large Slip 'N Slides.

To help Mitch recuperate from his long study sessions, Chris sets up the Tanning Invitational, an indoor pool event where the nerds of Pacific Tech can party with bikini-clad students from the local beauty school.

Real Genius is genuinely a product of its time that's far more bizarre than you may recall. However, each set piece has a depressing subtext that adds a sense of desperation to all of the fun everyone's having, as if it's the last time anyone will party before the nuclear winter. It's got everything you want in a teen movie: pranks, parties, and guys who live in closets.

It's a darkly humorous examination of the war-obsessed culture that began in the '80s, though most of the political themes get buried under a mountain of cheesy ploys and one-liners.ĭespite the political subtext, this movie is far from a grim dirge, and it's downright ridiculous at times. This underappreciated and genuinely wild film is more than just a vehicle for Val Kilmer to spew comedic lines. However, one teen movie stands triumphantly above all others: Real Genius. The '80s was a decade synonymous with the teen movie trend wherein the 'nerds rule' subgenre took up most of the space on VHS racks across the country.

Clad genius crack