Bad Genius

My review should be at the top! As a Chinese American 1st gen. I related a lot. Stern father who made me so hw as soon as I am home. So it is very relatable to Chinese 1st gen girls.

Excellent movie!!

It was good !! I liked it a lot! I am a 1st Gen Chinese American girl in NY & my immigrant Chinese father def drilled college into my life.

So I related to the relationship between her & her father, it reminded me of my father and I.

I thought it was an original story line but I found out it was a remake. For the American version, it woulda been more up to date if it was like a test required to like live or a test to get into this like elite only one like this type of college. (Even magic lol). If the SATs were still important...but I guess even if it's not that big of a deal to colleges, I'm sure it's a big deal to some old school parents / care about ur education parents.

But what am I saying! I enjoyed this movie, I think the plot is original (even if this pertains to the original) - I loved the actors (esp Benedict Wong <3 ) & the actress is a stand out .. looks like a promising young addition to the "Asian Actresses" in the Hollywood community. Love that she speaks Canto.. can see her in future romcom movies & graduating to action films.

The other teen actors/actresses fit your stereotypical hs ppl, actors can be interchangeable , Where unless this replace the whole race of the character is harder to change / stand out?

We need more Asian centric movies!!

Lynn (Callina Liang) is a brilliant student with no family money. His widowed father Meng (Benedict Wong) works tirelessly in his laundromat business. She gets a scholarship to a prestigious Seattle high school. She is befriended by rich girl Grace (Taylor Hickson) who slowly pulls her into the rich kids' world. They recruit her into passing answers to them. Bank (Jabari Banks) is the other smart scholarship kid in their class.

Apparently, this is adapted from a Thai film which I haven't seen. All I know is this movie needs a change in Lynn. I get the idea of a poor innocent Chinese girl being lured into doing bad by a bunch of rich white kids. It would be more fun if she starts the movie doing some scheme to make money. I would even accept a narration where she reads the people around her. She needs to be emotionally smart like she is later in the movie. The first thirty minutes are very standard and rather boring. It's downright uninspired. It takes a long time to get into something interesting. At times, I thought that Banks should be the lead character, but it really should be Lynn... with a change.

What an interesting film. It's based on a 2017 Thai film with the same name. Supposed the original is such better, but I must say, this version was great. It's sort of a heist thriller, but instead of swiping a pile of money, the thieves are gaming the academic testing world. And, instead of your usual ragtag bunch of con artists, you have a group of high school students.

"Bad Genius" is about a brilliant young Chinese American girl Lynn (Callina Liang) who's received a scholarship to a prestigious school. It's not long until she's befriended by a group of rich white kids who take advantage of her by having her supply them the answers to various exams. Then they take it to the next level by having her figure out how to cheat on the SATs.

It sounds like a boring premise, but believe me it's not. The story grabs you right from the beginning and you'll find yourself rooting for these kids until the end. I though the acting, story, and filming were all fantastic. I just noticed the original movie is streaming on Netflix, so that immediately went into my queue! Looking forward to checking it out.

--MovieJunkieMark.

A high school thriller that follows Lynn (Callina Liang), a standout high school student, who devises a systematic plan of cheating on exams to bring justice to a rigged system.

Directed by J. C. Lee and co-written by Julius Onah, Bad Genius is a remake of the 2017 Thai film of the same name. A movie that takes the heist framework into the school setting. The original movie was inspired by real events involving a S. A. T. Cheating scandal. A film interested in social commentary about wealth inequality and how success is easier for some few while for most people it is a difficult and long path. Something succinctly put by its protagonist when she was talking about the S. A. T.: "It's a scam, engineered by people with money and sold to other people with money to protect their status." Mei Ling creates a system to outsmart the rigged game, as they think of it, and help not only her schoolmates but also herself and her struggling father.

Bad Genius is engaging from the start, never loses its momentum and it is full of scenes where tension is present keeping you at the edge of your seat. A movie about a reality that easily interpellates most people. A reality that uncovers a truth sometimes best left unsaid, not because it is unknown, but because sometimes forgetting is easier, that people are just a means to an end and relationships are nothing but transactions. Everything is a transaction and everything has a price, even if they hide the price tag.

Bad Genius blew me away with its unique take on the heist genre. Instead of your typical bank or casino robbery, this film turns the world of academic exams into a high-stakes game, and the results are nothing short of brilliant. The tension is palpable from start to finish, and every scene feels meticulously crafted to keep you on the edge of your seat. I have not seen the Thai movie that it was apparently adapted from but I so enjoy this one that I think I just might try to find it and watch it was well. I always like to compare how the same story is told differently from a different filmmakers point of view.