Customer Reviews

The Genius Club

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I didn't know what to expect from "The Genius Club". It seemed to be something of a "love it or hate it" movie, judging from some reviews and its IMDb rating. Knowing it was made by Tim Chey, who made the amateurish rapture movie, "Gone", I feared it might be another badly made evangelistic movie. On the other hand, the premise, some of the world's (or at least the USA's) smartest people gather to find the solution to world problems in a day, sounded intriguing. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't do much with the premise. Not much happens in two hours except for the discussions of the "genius club". The riddles start out easy (why is toner ink so expensive?) and progress into questions of war, famine and the existence of God. Movies based on dialogue can be great, if they're smart and well written, but "The Genius Club" is rather pedestrian, the answes to the riddles often obvious. None of the characters come off as geniuses, nor does the screenwriter. The discussions are more like those of a randomly selected group of reasonably intelligent people. Towards the end there are some character development and some of the actors do a good job (Baldwin is surprisingly good) while some don't. The question of God's existence gives a hint there's Christian money and ideas behind this film, but it's not too preachy. On the other hand, the arguments on both sides are the same old, same old, including the tired old Descartes and C.S Lewis arguments, not exactly the stuff of genius. It certainly doesn't "prove God exists" as the DVD cover would suggest.

So, it it worth watching? It's hard to say. I think "The Genius Club" wants to be, tries to be and thinks it is, smarter than it really is and that if you're interested in philosophy the film offers nothing new. On the other hand, some people loved it, so you may want to give it a chance. I would have given it 2½ stars if I could but since I can't, and three stars seem to much, it gets two stars from me.

I'm giving this movie 3 stars because I think it's great that people are putting out faith based movies and I want to support that. However, I felt that there was too much going on and not enough focus. The cover said prove God exists, but that didn't really seem to be the theme of the movie at all. It was more about why do bad things happen to good people? I think the movie could have been better. It was almost as if they had a great idea but failed to edit the script before arriving at the final product. At the end of the day, I'm not sorry I bought this movie. I will continue to buy anything Stephen Baldwin participates in. I was a huge fan of his before he became a Christian. As I got out of college and began developing my faith, Stephen Baldwin also became a Christian and starting making Christian movies. It kind of was cool to witness that and see the difference it not only made in his life but even the movies he makes. I love Stephen Baldwin and feel he is making a difference in Hollywood . I support whatever he does and will continue to purchase all the movies he participates in.

I have to admit to being an emotional person and this to better explain why I liked this movie. The premise of this movie is quite weak: a scientist with an IQ of over 200 builds a bomb and threatens to blow Washington DC to smithereens unless the President brings together all the people he can find with IQs over 200 to an abandoned building in DC to play a game. The game consists of a Q & A with questions all relating to solving the world's problems. If the participants can amass 1,000 points before dawn the next morning, they can walk and DC is safe. At times, the discussion was reminiscent of university lectures I've attended but as the questions progressed to being more moral, the feel of the movie changes.

That said, I can say that it is the argument that really shows the intelligence of "The Genius Club." The second half definitely clinched it for me as the story progresses into the lives of each participant, woven into the Q & A session. The majority of the stories are emotionally charged and ranges from the woman dying of cancer, confronting the President on why he cut back on cancer research spending to the discussion of faith in God and being atheist.

I truly underestimated this movie and I have to say that when I walked out of the theater, I was a pleasantly surprised, sopping mess.

This movie has a lot of potential and seems very interesting, but I got really bored watching it. So frequently it was just an angry guy screaming at a bunch of people who were just arguing and wanting to leave and the asthmatic lady going into yet another asthma attack and falling on the floor while the economics professor has some random cigarette in his mouth (unlit). I think the script was awful, generic and, at times, cliche and uncomfortably sentimental. I think the group would have been a little different if they believed it with some more tension. I'd certainly imagine they'd get a little more focused and down to business than bicker the entire time, but it is a theoretical situation so... I'll give them a break.
The beginning could have been set up better as well as a better sense of real time throughout, especially toward the end when apparently they had only 2 minutes left yet definitely over 2 minutes of dialogue transpired. This is certainly no '24.'
What I do still like about this film is the premise and that the questions are thought-provoking, certainly more so than some of the latest trash out there--issues about politics, religion, business--basically everything NOT to bring up on a first date. While no issues really have good answers even outside of the scope of this film, there's not enough time within it to explore even one of the issues presented let alone all of them that were broached. There is a decent balance between viewpoints, I suppose. Decent enough, at least.
Overall, I recommend it as something to casually watch, or maybe for a Philosophy Club meeting.

This film had so much potential.

Think of the plot: a madman is threatening to blow up a nuclear bomb in Washington D.C. unless a group of brillant men and women can solve his riddles.

They have until sun-up.

Sounds like a nice thriller right?

All night the bag guy asks questions and if the group answers correctly, they win points. They have to earn so many points to stop the bomb.

The first mistake was casting Stephen Baldwin as one of the geniuses.

The second mistake was writing a script that has almost nothing to do with the plot.

Even Tom Sizemore as the villain couldn't save this low-budget fiasco.

So much promise with nowhere to go.

I loved this film. I was also taken by surprised by how good it was. It really draws your attention. At first the beginning seem boring, but after 15 mins, it gets good. I love the casino owner & was touched by ally,the one who had cancer. I wish they had a sequel to see what would happen to them after this/or if they were in another crisis. Excellent! I loved it. five stars!

I will say one thing, the unintentional laughs I got from this movie did make it worthwhile. It's by no means a masterpiece by any stretch of the word and and that hammy acting and cliched line readings are clear evidence of that. No, this movie fails miserably because of one thing, there were no geniuses involved. A note to the producers, extremely high IQs like those shown in the movie aren't possible. The entire IQ test fails once you reach 200 and literally you can't go any higher but for the normal everyday Joe Sixpack it's more than adequate.

After the chess scene I knew this movie was a winner. It's a pretty poor example of a chess champion that gets caught in a fool's mate. But I guess that's because he wasn't a genius. After all, even novice players learn about that move and how to block it. That move is practically part of the learning process.

But no, we're faced with unconvincing characters, poor examples of geniuses and some of the worst questions ever devised. At best the questions and solutions sound like the ramblings of some conspiracy nut or somebody that doesn't know how most things in this world actually work. In the end, we're left with a jumbled mess that gets praise simply because it's a "Christian" movie. This movie failed when first shown, then the producers played up the Christian message and suddenly you're left with a movie that every Christian I've spoken to loves and praises the message.

I'm sorry, but this movie is simply not a good one. Take away the, admittedly very thin, message and you're left with something that should be regulated to the $1.00 bin at your local Wal*Mart.

For a room full of people with IQs over 200 IQ, the level of conversation about the big questions facing the globe were below the average of an undergraduate's dorm after a heavy night's drinking. The questions and solutions were trite, simplistic, and wrong. There was quite a bit of discussion on whether God exists, and the answers pro and con were so dumb that one wonders in the the producer, writer and director Tim Chey had ever actually read about this topic before he wrote the script. The only saving grace in this movie was an over the top role by Tom Sizemore, playing the maniac threatening to destroy DC with a nuke. By the end, I was rooting for the bomb to be detonated.

Save your money and buy something else, anything else.

...This movie has a good premise, but just wasn't that great unfortunately. It's still interesting if you want to add it to your collection, just don't pay a fortune for it.

A friend lent me this movie and I enjoyed it. It provided food for thought as they discussed several of the important questions facing mankind today. They didn't really solve the problems and I would have liked to have heard more discussion about God but the movie gave God more credit than most. I thought the end was a little anticlimactic and left some questions unanswered but other than that it was a good, thought provoking movie that is perfectly suitable for family movie night.