First I'll throw in my two cents on an issue I wish I didn't have to comment on. This is a remarkable film for no other reason that it evokes passion. The critics who dislike the film continue to bash only the religious implications. But this is disingenuous. Surely, a film can stand on its merits regardless of whether one believes in God or not.
Movies that toyed with similar themes, like "12 Angry Men" or "Beautiful Mind," though great films, do not come close to packing the emotional wallop this film delivers. I dare anyone to tell me they didn't get teared up as the movie progressed and the characters reveal their own tragedies.
Of course as a realist drama, the performances in the film are crucial. Scalia is outstanding, as one would expect, but so is Tom Sizemore and the rest of the cast. Part of this must be due to the filmmakers, as Scalia, for example, doesn't come across nearly as well to me in some of his other films.
If The Genius Club has a flaw, it's that its relatively short (compared to the material available) running time makes for some unexplained or shallow turnabouts of character in the complex of good/evil interplay. The casino owner seems particularly distant to the viewer, for example, which is appropriate to the final state of her character, but which could have been explained better in transformation. But how wonderful is it to have a casino owner - the ingenuity of bringing the most shallow world and mixing it in with real religion is nothing short of imaginative audacity.
Finally note the contrast between the restrained closing scene (which is also the climax) and the melodramatic style of the almost everything that has preceded it in the film.
This is a fabulous, heartrending film, with grand, biblical and universal subtexts and an unusually developed but extremely charming romance. Unless you're completely averse to realist drama, you must see 'Genius Club' at least once.
