The Genius Club

After watching this film one thing I was left with was a feeling of tremendous euphoria, a glowing feeling which lasted well into the next morning. I could not help but think that this collage of events in the lives of 7 genius people in winter DC was realism. Not the harsh gritty realism of 'Taxi Driver', but a different realism. This movie is who we are, as people. This movie chronicles the emotions we may have when confronted with a persistent terrorist who actually understands the world's problems. And the acerbic intelligence of the script is tempered with director Altman's stunning technical virtuosity.

The style is very pastiche, and one scene cuts to another, as the title suggests, with reckless abandon. This lends a very fresh and watchable quality to what is by any standards a long film.

Usually when a film gets made about world issues, the resulting movie tends to be overtly sensational and at best remotely connected to what really happened.

Instead what we have is a well argued thesis on the possibly solving the world's problems. Amazing concept. Brilliant and courageous all the way. While there are some very intense scenes, the director takes a somewhat unexpected approach on the subject. All of the world's problems take place pretty early on in the movie, with the bulk of the story centering on the geniuses and their characters - wonderful storytelling.

Some people may find themselves disappointed by this epic if they go in expecting the normal Hollywood fare. In a perfect society, this would have won the Oscar, not another Eastwood or Spielberg picture

"A criminal threatens to destroy Washington, D.C. with a nuclear bomb unless seven people with 200+ IQs can solve all the world's problems in one night." How's that for the premise of a Christian film? It sure beats "A pop star struggles with her faith," or "A man must convince his brother-in-law of the importance of Christ in the Christmas season." A lot of people, including many Christians, dislike Christian films because:

1. They tend to be lower-budget and lower-quality, cinematically speaking, then most other films.

2. In an attempt to be "family friendly" and "wholesome," they often avoid or trivialize serious issues.

While "The Genius Club" can't overcome the first criticism, it seems as if the filmmakers recognized the second criticism, and decided to make a film that does nothing but address serious issues. Welcome to a Christian film that is not family-friendly. I can't think of a single other Christian film where characters make statements like, "Cancer hasn't been cured because that would mean the loss of millions of jobs in a booming health care industry."

"Solving the world's problems" takes the form of a debate between the seven genius characters and the villain. As time goes on, the stakes get higher, and they go from talking about things like politics and war to things like good and evil. As long as the debate is going on, which is most of the film, the dialogue is pretty well-thought-out and covers deep ground (it slacks off during the breaks, though). You might expect a character to make a statement implying that all the world's problems would be solved if everyone became Christians, but that does not happen. Instead, the film's thesis seems to be that we need to let of greed, let go of hate, and love one another. One of the seven is a seminary student and another is an atheist, and there is some debate about God, Jesus, and religion, but it is not antagonistic like in, say, "God's Not Dead," since the seven characters are seen as working together against a common adversary. Actually, the villain here is a more reasonable and rational character than the professor in "God's Not Dead."

Overall, I enjoyed "The Genius Club" as much as I enjoy movies that I would normally give an "8," but I have to give it a "7" instead, since some of the dialogue and acting was very unconvincing, especially towards the very beginning and the very end. Even so, I consider it one of the better Christian films I have seen, as it has meatier and more mature content than most others. I recommend it to people who are open- minded about Christianity and, for that matter, budgets.

there are certain movies over the past decades that achieve a sort of raw emotion inside of us that can't be captured on purpose. this is a movie that is so simple, yet so unbelievably poetic that it is hard to to believe any Hollywood studio made it. i saw this movie the first time at the theater last year, and I never forgot how moved it made me feel.

the end of the movie is so unbelievably powerful that when stephen baldwin finally reveals his past, it feels like you have discovered the answers to the world's problems, our soulless humanity in search of God and ultimate meaning. i don't know of too many movies that can claim that. i read some cynical film critic's review and you know he's the type who would complain that mona lisa's nose is too small or picasso really wasn't all that. this is a movie that will never loses its power, even 20 years from now.

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.