Bad Genius review – Cram course

With the start of Matric finals less than two weeks away in South Africa, academic performance will be top of mind for thousands of teenagers and their families. The pressure is on, as results have the potential to open, or close, the door on a dreamed future; a whole life path leading to success. With so much at stake, it’s hardly surprising that around this time every year stories of leaked exam papers and other cheating attempts make headlines.

New thriller Bad Genius shows South Africa isn’t alone in this situation. The American film is, in fact, the second remake of a 2017 Thai movie that made history as the country’s most successful release internationally. The original Bad Genius has already spawned a Bollywood adaptation and a TV series rework. Now it’s getting an English-language treatment, proving many of the world’s young people are facing the same relatable situation.

Essentially a heist movie couched in topical social-economic issues, Bad Genius centres on academically brilliant Lynn (Callina Liang), the teenage daughter of immigrant widower Meng (Benedict Wong). The family’s financial struggles are momentarily lifted when Lynn earns a full scholarship to an elite private school that gives its students an advantage in being accepted to the US’s most prestigious universities and tertiary institutes.

Lynn is surrounded by snobby bigots but she finds friendship with Grace (Taylor Hickson), a privileged classmate more interested in acting than academics. After Lynn successfully sneaks Grace answers during a class test, the pair kickstart a cheating ring, where Lynn is paid to help struggling students. But when these “entrepreneurs” set their sights on the uncrackable SAT college admissions test, Lynn is forced to recruit Bank (Jabari Banks), a fellow scholarship student with a rigid moral code.

Bad Genius is best experienced blind, as the trailer walks viewers through almost every plot point. The 96-minute film also has a kind of tick box mentality, rushing over its contents with the speed that Lynn tackles every multiple-choice exam. For the most part, audiences are given very little time to connect with the characters, and view their relationships with credibility that would have added layers to the movie. An exception is familiar face Wong, who brings welcome emotional warmth to a film that is otherwise focused on self-enrichment, damn the consequences.

Playing devil’s advocate, Bad Genius does turn the spotlight on the situation faced by financially disadvantaged students like Lynn and Bank. Even if they didn’t have to work incredibly hard for life-changing advancement – which their peers are simply awarded on the basis of family name and connection – their own wants are lost in the process. For example, Lynn is burdened with her father’s expectation that she’ll attend MIT, when she wants to study music. What she does in Bad Genius, however ethically dubious, she does for herself and her dreams, forcing audiences to question where they stand on the topic of law breaking when it achieves personal justice within an unfair, unbalanced system.

Bad Genius may feel bare bones but the flipside is that the “heist” scenes are electrically charged. Your smart watch may alert you to calm down (true story), as Lynn and company’s best laid plans are inevitably derailed, forcing everyone to improvise. You’re unlikely to encounter tenser scenes on the screen this year, which may be enough of a drawcard, particularly if you’re in the mood for a different kind of zippy crime thriller – one that doesn’t involve robbing a casino, bank or gala event. What Bad Genius lacks in emotional substance, it certainly makes up in energy. If only it were a bit more spirited, instead of being so stripped back.

Bad Genius is in South African cinemas now, having released on 20 September. It debuts in the US on 14 October.