ReelRecsWhat to watch
Real Genius poster

MOVIE · 1985

Real Genius

ComedyRomanceSci-Fi108 min

Teenage prodigy Mitch Taylor is recruited into an elite laser project and quickly finds himself working beside Chris Knight, a brilliant senior whose pranks and indifference to authority keep the lab off balance. Gabriel Jarret’s Mitch arrives wide-eyed; Val Kilmer gives Chris an unruly confidence that throws professors and classmates alike. As the experiment nears completion, the two learn that Professor Hathaway (William Atherton) has been steering their breakthrough toward a military weapon, shifting the pressure from academic competition to a fight over who controls what they’ve built.

Find out what fits your taste.

Rate movies and shows in ReelRecs, save your next watch, and get personal recommendations from the Reel Recs online service. Free on iPhone and Android.

Open this title in ReelRecs

Where to watch in US

These offers have not all been recently verified. Check the provider for current availability.

Included with a subscription

Free with ads

Rent

Buy

Availability checked October 25, 2026. Offers can change. Rentals and purchases are separate from subscriptions.

More to consider

Weird Science (1985)

Gary and Wyatt, two high school outsiders, use a homemade computer experiment to create Lisa, a beautiful woman who steps off the screen and into their lives. Anthony Michael Hall's Gary and Ilan Mitchell-Smith's Wyatt …

Mr. Destiny (1990)

Larry Burrows is stuck in a life that feels smaller than the one he imagined, still blaming a missed childhood baseball shot for everything that followed. Jim Belushi's Larry gets an impossible second chance when a myst…

Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)

A diverted flight turns Neal Page’s Thanksgiving trip home to Chicago into a long, improvised trek with Del Griffith, the shower curtain ring salesman he can’t seem to escape. Steve Martin is Neal, an irritable marketin…

Catalogue checked October 30, 2026. Use ReelRecs with an assistant