Applying heist movie conventions to a story about cheating on exams, Bad Genius is a wild ride that left Luke Buckmaster gasping for breath.
When was the last time you saw a pulse-pounding production about cheating on high school exams? J.C. Lee’s devilishly sharp and exhilarating Bad Genius is a great example of applying a particular suite of conventions, in this instance the heist thriller format, to an unexpected space. We’ve heard the words “Fort Knox” dropped in many action movies over the years, but probably never (notwithstanding the 2017 Thai production this film remakes) in relation to good grades and multiple choice questions.
Especially, as the plot evolves, the SATs, which are tests used across America for university admissions, considered completely uncheatable. Thus a Mission: Impossible type challenge for terrifically gifted protagonist Lynn (Callina Liang), an almost supernaturally smart young woman raised by her laundromat-owning father Meng (Benedict Wong).
Early in the runtime, Lynn speaks to the headmaster (Sarah-Jane Redmond) of a prestigious private school, in an exchance that rolls her inability to afford the school, and why she should be there, into the same moment. Lynn makes a series of on-the-spot calculations, like a super-computer, factoring in the cost of uniforms, text books, transportation etcetera, plus time costs…then, continuing her rapid-fire spiel, reworks that model, switching the cost of a bus for the cost of Ubers, factoring in the benefits the latter offers her father’s business in terms of time she can spend to help, and on we go.
The point is made: this kid is pretty bloody smart. Lee jazzes up the scene by cutting to various references points—a bus, Ubers, etcetera—shaping it into a punchy montage and establishing a sharp, tangy visual flavour. Lynn is enrolled into the school via a scholarship, and, on her first day, meets Grace (Taylor Hickson), an aspiring actor who shows her around and enlists her help as a tutor. Soon later, during an exam, Lynn takes pity on her obviously flummoxed new friend, and helps her cheat by writing the answers on an eraser, dexterously transferring it to her via one of her shoes.
Soon later, Grace’s boyfriend Pat (Samuel Braun), who comes from a super-rich family, offers her a lot of money to help him cheat. We know the protagonist will break bad and thus the plot tumbles forward, into a deliciously entertaining space whereby Lynn invents an innovative form of cheating, in effect inventing her own Morse code-esque language, involving tapping the desk in rhythmic ways. She’s even invented a cover-up story: if anybody’s caught, they say they were tapping the rhythm of a catchy song.
It’s silly but it’s lots of fun, paving the way for the aforementioned Fort Knox-like challenge. Lynne enlists the help of Bank (Jabari Banks), a Nigerian student who’s also freakishly gifted, to crack the code, so to speak, finding a way to cheat the “uncheatable” exam. Mum’s the word on how they do this. But I will say that, as they plan and execute the mission, characters meet in the kind of location we’ve seen countless times in heist movies: a warehouse-like space with a whiteboard, and various notes and diagrams pinned to the walls. Some of the dialogue is cribbed from the heist genre too; one character even says “what’s my cut?”
Bad Genius is more than a stretch plausibility-wise, but who cares? It’s a wild ride and it’s paced very well. Where the film does fall down is in its social commentary: it’s clear Lee wants to make stinging statements about affluence and education, but this element feels rather half-hearted. But that killer pace is pretty good compensation, carrying a real kick. At one point in the final act, I realised how greatly the film was affecting me viscerally: my body was all tensed up, my heart pounding. It almost made me want to return to high school…just so I could cheat.
