REAL GENIUS

   Film (1985). Tri-Star/Delphi III. Dir Martha Coolidge, starring Val Kilmer, Gabe Jarret, Michelle Meyrink, William Atherton, Robert Prescott. Screenplay Neal Israel, Pat Proft, Peter Torokvei, based on a story by Israel and Proft. 106 mins. Colour.

   Genius students at a college for advanced science are manipulated into designing a high-power laser by their corrupt professor (Atherton), who unknown to them is supplying it to a cold-blooded government agency as a secret weapon. On discovering this, they revenge themselves with a complex practical joke. This was one of several sf "teen" movies of the period (others were MY SCIENCE PROJECT (1985) and WEIRD SCIENCE (1985)), and perhaps the best. Director Coolidge, who is "feminist-influenced", as she cautiously puts it, gives a more realistic flavour than usual to the dialogue, performances and even the science, but much of the film dissolves into routine student-prank sequences.

   PN

   See also: CINEMA.