Real Genius
Posted by GinaStarr69@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 189 comments
Anyone remember this movie? I did not remember it, but I found this to be very fascinating about the popcorn scene!
Hope I linked it right it’s my first try!
https://flip.it/u_0wOy
ChaosTheoryGirl@reddit
Yes, I loved that movie!
50sDadSays@reddit
I met my wife in class and we chatted a little. The next day I saw her in a lounge on campus. I stopped and we talked a bit, but I had a class coming up so I said, "I'm gone, I'm history, I'm Casper," and she jumped up. "You've seen Real Genius?" And that's when we knew we'd be together forever.
GogglesPisano@reddit
She’s a keeper!
50sDadSays@reddit
That was August 1987; so far, so good.
SnowblindAlbino@reddit
Ah, that's when we met too! Also still together, though we did not initially bond over Real Genius.
SnowblindAlbino@reddit
Of course-- it's a classic. Saw it in the theater, and many times since. My (now adult) kids know it as well. I've always been a fan of the Lazlo character in particular.
narcissistssuck@reddit
Every time my husband and I watch a movie where a car ends up somewhere unexpected: "Kent, you know you're not supposed to park that on campus."
VayVay42@reddit
"Rue the day?" Who talks like that?
VeeVeeDiaboli@reddit
“Can you nail an 8 inch spike through board with your penis”
“Ahhhhhh…no…?….”
“A girls gotta have her standards”
Hollyfeld_Lazlo@reddit
We have a whole subreddit /r/RealGenius
Special_Luck7537@reddit
I don't know if it's still a tradition at MIT, but, the seniors would be off campus for a week, and would turn their rooms into safes to be electronically hacked, or brute forced, or a puzzle typed, and broken into. Once they gained access, the Sr would leave a bribe and, the undergrad could either take the bribe or trash the room.
One guy came back to find his room completely foam packed... One big block ..
WhiskeyAndWhiskey97@reddit
This was a tradition at MIT? (Alumna here.)
Ricekake33@reddit
Amazing. I love stories like this
Feeling_Name_6903@reddit
Lazlo Holyfeld actor is now on White Lotus. If you think of real genius as his back story it totally fits.
Interesting-Web3737@reddit
In the immortal words of Socrates, “I drank what!?”
CriticalStrawberry15@reddit
Quoted this yesterday
siliconsmiley@reddit
I quote this on the regular and nobody knows wtf I'm talking about.
CriticalStrawberry15@reddit
Who is that guy that keeps going into our closet?
redbeard914@reddit
That is the Uncle from Napoleon Dynamite
CriticalStrawberry15@reddit
No that’s Laszlo
pixlfarmer@reddit
You might recognize him as Gary from White Lotus!
RockTheGlobe@reddit
Or also "Greg" from "White Lotus"! 😆
redbeard914@reddit
Embrace the power of Both
CriticalStrawberry15@reddit
You must not have watched the movie enough times. We had a magical opportunity to go back and forth, quoting my favorite scene. And now….. look at us. We could have been shining stars
Oddfool@reddit
It's a moral imperative.
Nachollama75@reddit
Same.
MornduNH@reddit
Same
Zetavu@reddit
As did I, just on a whim and it's not the best quote of the movie, but most timely.
Sanjomo@reddit
“Did you know eating this can give you giant… oh no! I’m too late!”
Special_Luck7537@reddit
Ice us Nice! How's it feel to be frozen!
Or
Can you drive a 10penny nail into the floor with your penis?
cranialvoid@reddit
A girl’s got to have her standards.
FishInk@reddit
I quote this quite often
elcad@reddit
Just me or did the guy playing Mitch Taylor look like Phoebe Cates?
Amateur_professor@reddit
This is my favorite Val Kilmer movie. None of that TopGun or Tombstone BS.
BerryMantelope@reddit
Favorite movie hands down, and the only movie I quote from.
OldJames47@reddit
Val Kilmer died yesterday. RIP
Lazlo, the guy who lives in Mitch’s closet plays Greg Hunt, BLM in all 3 seasons of White Lotus.
microcosm315@reddit
I never knew that about uncle Rico but totally see it now. Thanks for that fact!
Chrissthom@reddit
How did I not notice that?!
anotherkeebler@reddit
There’s no way that pasty subterranean could throw a football over those mountains.
charitytowin@reddit
And the asshole from the limo company who Ray 'Bones' Barboni shoots in Harry Zimm's office in Get Shorty.
"What is that a WOP9, the Fiat of guns! Always jamming on you at the wind time"
pop pop pop
Amazing last words. They speak volumes on who he is, the types of machismo conversations he has at the range, everything about that phrase is perfect as he comes face to face with a real killer.
FuckinHighGuy@reddit
One of my favorite scenes.
molotok_c_518@reddit
He also had nards in The Monster Squad.
AMGRN@reddit
WOLFMAN’S GOT NARDS!
revdon@reddit
And King Vidiot in Joysticks (1983)
ChrisKnight75@reddit
Also part of Liam Neeson's crew in Taken.
Arkhus9753@reddit
🤯 omg you’re right - I never made that connection before.
FireGodNYC@reddit
Jon Gries
FormerCollegeDJ@reddit
He was also Broots on The Pretender (late 1990s NBC drama).
Weak_Employment_5260@reddit
And a hunter they meet in an asylum in Supernatural
ThumbsUp2323@reddit
Still one of my favorite films. I rewatch it at least once a year, and quote it endlessly.
Open_Mortgage_4645@reddit
Of course. Amazing movie!
ritlingit@reddit
That’s funny, I was talking to my sister about this movie because of Val Kilmer’s demise. This is the first movie she saw him in and it was the stupidest movie but hilarious. She fell in love with him that summer. The popcorn scene is iconic.
RIP Val Kilmer
Emotional_Status2962@reddit
To this day my mind will drift to the question…how did they get Kent’s car into his dorm room, and it drives me insane. Oh I knew they did, but I can’t figure it out.
masterdesignstate@reddit
I aced it
unmistakable_itch@reddit
Remember? I watched it last week.
toadjones79@reddit
One of my all time favorites. Has been since it was new.
"Rue the day? Who talks like that" is one of my top quotes. But I usually just shorten it to the last half, which makes it super obscure. But I know. And that's all that matters.
BarRegular2684@reddit
This was a fun movie. I wonder how well it holds up now?
new2bay@reddit
It’s just as funny now as it was then, IMO.
DontYuckMyYum@reddit
this is one of my favorite underrated 80s movie.
also, the nerd girl was one of my first movie crushes.
gerardkimblefarthing@reddit
Michelle Meyrink.
sanityjanity@reddit
Jordan
PokeRay68@reddit
We often quote "THEY'RE GOOOOONE!"
slatsandflaps@reddit
"Are you peeing?"
"Uhh, I can't start."
"Because I'm here?"
"I think so."
"Weird."
"Well I have to go."
"Me too."
Weak_Employment_5260@reddit
She was also in theOutsiders, Revenge of theNerds andPermanent Record
Ricekake33@reddit
And Valley Girl!
RVAblues@reddit
Me too. Crushed on her so hard.
GeoHog713@reddit
One of my favorites
hajimoto74@reddit
Captain crunch. Peanut butter and berry! If have a cabinet just for that.
MajYoshi@reddit
Holy crap. We just finished watching this as a nod to Val, and log in to see this.
Great, great movie!
cownan@reddit
Loved that movie! I was just thinking about it yesterday, then the news about Val came out
wendilw@reddit
Thunderheart was pretty goddamn good, too.
Willing_Arm_7044@reddit
In my collection
nineseventeenam@reddit
This is the movie where I feel in love with Val Kilmer. RIP
Haunting-Prior-NaN@reddit
That is how my 12 year old me imagined college was gonna be. I still quote the shit out of it.
hammie123456@reddit
Came here for this. Me too 💯. I honestly thought college was going to be evaporating ice in the hallways and putting someone’s car in their dorm room.
Special_Luck7537@reddit
This stuff e really happened at MIT, years back...
Zealousideal_Jump990@reddit
Here taste this.
What too sweet?
What is it?
I don't know, I found it in one of the labs.
Arghh
I'm kidding, it's just yogurt.
arothmanmusic@reddit
I think that's one of the problems with Gen X - especially us guys. Movies taught us that college would be full of hilarious hijinx, that pretty girls were just waiting for the nerds to make an impressive show of affection, and that spying on chicks in the locker room was a harmless thrill. We got some crazy lessons from 80s movies...
probably_bored_1878@reddit
Our views of college were informed by Real Genius, Revenge of the Nerds, and Animal House. I went to a school called Rose-Hulman (before realizing that I hated engineering) and some of the characters in the Real Genius were pretty close to guys I knew on campus.
CommodoreGirlfriend@reddit
That's a good school tho! hard to get into
u35828@reddit
I found myself on double secret probation due to poor grades, though I ended up graduating while on the six year plan.
Junior_Article_3244@reddit
Zealousideal_Jump990@reddit
What is it?
MarshallGibsonLP@reddit
You’ll rue the day!
Zealousideal_Jump990@reddit
Rue the day? Who talks like that?
Babbs03@reddit
I have always lived this movie. It was how I discovered Val Kilmer.
argleblay@reddit
I have an issue with the New York Times today. In their obituary for him, they did not mention Real Genius at all. Tough to forgive an oversight that large!
CommodoreGirlfriend@reddit
This movie was my whole damn personality for years as a kid
illuminatiisnowhere@reddit
I just watched. Funny movie.
elijuicyjones@reddit
Watched it last night in memory of Val Kilmer dying. We also nabbed about ten more to watch this weekend on the Plex server.
hdufort@reddit
This is one of my favorite movies of all time. Some scenes are amazing, including the secret passage in the locker, and of course the final scene with the popcorn!
SJExit4@reddit
I made popcorn tonight in memory of him. Real Genius was my favorite movie of his.
Far-Wolf3539@reddit
One of my all time favorite movies!
Irving_Velociraptor@reddit
I was hot and I was hungry!
mac_the_man@reddit
MarshallGibsonLP@reddit
Filed under “H” for toy.
Lumpy-Actuator6776@reddit
Saw it at the theater as a kid. The villain/bull scene still makes me grin.
Sonnydm@reddit
One of my favorites growing up.
"What's this?"
"This? This is ice. This is what happens when water gets to cold."
"This? This is Kent. This is what happens to people when they get too sexually frustrated."
MarshallGibsonLP@reddit
I was hot and I was hungry.
brickbaterang@reddit
Laz was my favorite guy in the movie
oldestbarbackever@reddit
Would you hammer a six inch spike through a board with your penis...
dammitknockitoff@reddit
jethro_bovine@reddit
I have a "I (Heart) Tixic Waist" shirt!
spargel_gesicht@reddit
Omg yes that movie was awesome! RIP Val. 😭
ZebraBorgata@reddit
It’s one of my favorite movies. I’ve seen it many times!
ob1dylan@reddit
4 decades later, and I STILL probably quote this movie an average of once a week.
Andurhil1986@reddit
Are you Chris Knight? I hope so, I’m wearing his underwear.
I didn’t want you to think I’m all brain and no penis.
CriticalCurrency5725@reddit
"Can you drive a two inch nail through a one inch board with your penis?"
"Well, not right now."
Best Real Genius/Val Kilmer quote ever.
MaridAudran@reddit
Ice is nice!
Plastic-Sentence9429@reddit
I watched it today for the idon'tknowth time. Then Wargames came on automatically afterward.
Mysterious-Being5043@reddit
Ice is Nice!!
shit_ass_mcfucknuts@reddit
I have a ton of streaming channels and this is $3.99 and it's only on channels that I don't have. It's worth the money, but I'm still not going to pay it.
LinuxLinus@reddit
Shot at my alma mater. One of the great teen comedies of all time.
GogglesPisano@reddit
Pomona College?
Tralfaz1138@reddit
Any time I see it pop up, it's a moral imperative to watch it. (I've watched this movie so many times).
PizzaWhole9323@reddit
As I get older I realize that Chris Knight was my spirit animal. :-)
throw123454321purple@reddit
“Kent…stop touching yourself.”
cranialvoid@reddit
It is God.
hikeonpast@reddit
It is God!
uninspired@reddit
I was hot and I was hungry!
Key-Contest-2879@reddit
He is real!
Pristine_Serve5979@reddit
Great movie that got me interested in physics!
Kakistocrat945@reddit
Fantastic, fun movie. Started a small crush on Val Kilmer for me for a while. (Smart, hot, fun, AND subversive? Hello!) And an intelligent comedy.
Ricekake33@reddit
My crush on Val also bloomed here
Thirty_Helens_Agree@reddit
I ❤️ TOXIC WASTE
50sDadSays@reddit
I have that shirt!
Ricekake33@reddit
I need this shirt
Stardustquarks@reddit
“Have you ever seen a body like that before in your life??”
“She’s my daughter”
“Oh…so I guess you have”…
ericrz@reddit
"If there's ever anything I can do for you, or more to the point, to you, will you call me?"
polkastripper@reddit
I've always wanted to say that to a woman!
polkastripper@reddit
The real Val Kilmer masterpiece
Boomersgang@reddit
Love this film.
stop_whispering@reddit
This has been my favorite movie of all time since I was a teenager. I rewatched it today and was flooded with memories. Watching it over and over again with friends, quoting it almost in its entirety. I posted about it on Facebook and all my old high school friends are responding and sharing similar memories. It was so much more than a movie - it was a part of our existence. And that had everything to do with Val.
Zealousideal_Jump990@reddit
"Would you be prepared if gravity reversed itself? The only thing I can't figure out is how to keep the change from falling out of my pocket. I've got it, nudity!" - Chris Knight
jujioux@reddit
My favorite Val Kilmer movie! RIP
No-Economics-8239@reddit
Remember it? It was my anthem growing up. Chris Knight was my spirit animal, and Val Kilmer's second best performance. RIP.
I still watch it regularly.
CleverNickName-69@reddit
Ooh, controversial hot take there.
Are you putting Mad Martigen at #1, with Ice Man at #3 and Doc Holliday and Jim Morrison at 4 and 5?
I mean, I love me some Chris Knight, but you can't seriously put it ahead of Holliday and Morrison, can you?
No-Economics-8239@reddit
Look, it was hot and I was hungry, okay?
Doc Holliday Chris Knight Jim Morrison Mad Martigen John Patterson, The Ghost and the Darkness
I can see some play in 2 thru 5. But putting Ice Man in the top 5 is just popularity bias.
And Doc Holliday was unquestionably his best performance, although it gets elevated by everything else in that masterpiece.
CleverNickName-69@reddit
Yeah, I was kidding about Ice Man. I'd put his Top Secret! and Heat roles higher than Ice Man.
We probably agree more than we disagree. It has probably been too long since I watched some of these movies but I feel like I have to put Doc Holliday and Jim Morrison as one and two. I felt like his role in The Doors was a great performance in an okay movie.
3-7 in no particular order are probably Patterson, Martigen, Knight, and Gay Perry from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Or does Thunderheart belong in there? I remember liking that too.
I really do want to rewatch all of it now.
MadMatchy@reddit
Definitely me two
No-Economics-8239@reddit
Oh, I forgot about Kiss Kiss Bang Bang! Hmm... yeah, that might be up there.
Heat is a fantastic movie and one of my favorites, but Val doesn't really shine in it.
Top Secret is just wacky fun, and I don't recall Val really elevating the film... but it has been some time since I last watched it.
I've never actually watched Thunderheart, I clearly need to correct that.
The Saint... was pretty horrible. There is a lot of stupid in it, but I love Val too much not to enjoy it anyway. But even with all his different disguises, it wasn't a great showcase of his talents.
Yeah, I can see having a Val Kilmer marathon in my future.
JJQuantum@reddit
Great movie.
Accomplished_Pop529@reddit
I love this movie and watch it at least once per year. It’s right up there with better off dead.
Robb_da_dog@reddit
Such a great movie
DarthKel@reddit
Everyone should check out this film..."It is a moral imperative."
Sweaty_Butcher66@reddit
Kent, stop playing with yourself!
Unicorn_Sparkle_Butt@reddit
That's the Mork and Mindy house
thehobster@reddit
Showed that one to the kids when they were youngish. They loved it. Neither went on to do science.
blueeyedmama2@reddit
Loved it. That's when I discovered my love for Val Kilmer, may he rest in peace.
IB4WTF@reddit
"Why do you have that toy on your head?" "Because, if I wear it anywhere else, it chafes."
Soft_Perspective_356@reddit
Love this movie
wild-hectare@reddit
Val Kilmer classic...RIP Huckleberry
Impossible-Company78@reddit
Was on the tube last week as a matter of fact. Loved it back in the day and still hasn’t gotten old
PokeRay68@reddit
My local radio station keeps talking about which Val Kilmer movie to watch.
This isn't on anyone's list!
This was my favorite, followed by Top Secret, then Willow.
Vivis_Nuts@reddit
Remember? It is one of my favorites. Saw it in the theater 3 times. I always wanted to be like Chris Knight
bippityboppitybooboo@reddit
I have it on now. It's going to be a Val appreciation day
EmperorXerro@reddit
I mentioned it in another post, but Chris Knight taught me to be a smart ass in middle school.
This? This is ice. This is what happens to water when it gets too cold. This? This is Kent. This is what happens to people when they get too sexually frustrated.
MountainGal72@reddit
I’m having a Val movie marathon today, in honor of our lost friend, an incredibly talented individual who gifted us SO many amazing memories!
Started with The Saint, moved on to The Salton Sea, Real Genius, Top Secret, Top Gun, and Tombstone will be next.
Gonna finish with The Doors.
This loss really hurts. Rest well, beautiful friend!
GarthRanzz@reddit
Same here but I started with Top Secret and am going in chronological (release) order. And I’m going to finish with his son’s documentary, Val.
MountainGal72@reddit
I saw Val recently. ❤️🩹
Zhorren_Djaxius@reddit
I watched the hell outta this movie! Like once a week or more! Suck it's only available to rent/buy on Amazon.
Jomolungma@reddit
The good thing about buying this years ago on Amazon is I don’t have to buy it today on Amazon 😂
arothmanmusic@reddit
I literally watched a YouTube suggested video about 'Real Genius' last night and then woke up to the news about Val Kilmer this morning.
I saw it in the theater when it came out, and for a while I had weird nightmares about there being a rollercoaster hidden in my bedroom closet.
Ok-Safety7793@reddit
Summer of ‘85, watched this movie daily for a week or so in the local — now defunct — single screen theater, at first for the A/C and then for one of my favorite movies ever.
SaltyDogBill@reddit
I’m so tired of these click bait posts. “Does anyone remember ‘X’” where ‘X’ equals a very popular, well loved media. FFS, we all remember Real Genius.
“Hey, anyone remember MAS*H? “. “Anyone recall Hotwheels? “
Breklin76@reddit
Whatever.
japhydean@reddit
username checks out lol
Breklin76@reddit
CLASSIC!
Fuzzy_Peach_8524@reddit
Teenage wannabe scientist was like “actually that’s not liquid nitrogen it’s a SOLID” “hmf”
Arkhus9753@reddit
I love this movie so much! Much better than Weird Science.
mpete76@reddit
I love that love. Kent this is god speak, stop playing with yourself. 😂😂😂😂
BigJohnsBeenDrinkin@reddit
Greatly underrated comedy. Great writing. Great delivery, especially Val Kilmer (RIP, Val).
AdhesiveSeaMonkey@reddit
My best friend in HS and I were very academically minded at the time - especially math. We loved math. So this movie was like a snapshot of what we hoped our life would become! We were waaaay of, but it holds a fun place in my memory!
boner79@reddit
One of my top 10 movies of all time
sanityjanity@reddit
I remember it very clearly, and it is the role I will always remember for Val Kilmer.
chosenamewhendrunk@reddit
I love this movie, I made my friends watch it at my birthday sleepover.
I think Myth Busters did a bit about the popcorn too.
Weak_Employment_5260@reddit
Most of the popcorn was rancid and inedible since they brought it in by truckloads from all over. I am betting by the time they were done they despised the smell.
Jef_Wheaton@reddit
(Kids frolicking in and eating popcorn)
(Teenage me) "That popcorn is full of GLASS."
canigetahint@reddit
I have the DVD and have it ripped to my Plex server.
I need to go watch it now, along with a few others of Kilmer's that I have...
loveallcreatures@reddit
Uncle Rico!
LibrarianBet@reddit
Yes! Cult movie in my dorm. Love the popcorn. The phrase “Can you hammer a six inch spike through a board with your penis?” was a favorite on our floor.
Gah. It’s been 30 years.
Jon_Hanson@reddit
Not right now.
Key-Contest-2879@reddit
A girls gotta have standards.
TwistedMemories@reddit
Yep, I would say that I loved, but that love would be fleeting and I would have moved on to the next movie.
FormerCollegeDJ@reddit
That movie is discussed on this subreddit at least once every 3-4 weeks, LOL.
mbadolato@reddit
This is ice. This is what happens to water when it gets too cold
greg9x@reddit
Yep, also one of my favorites.
DarthWeasel74@reddit
"Kent put his name on his license plate"
"My mother does that with my underwear"
"Your mother puts license plates in your underwear? How do you sit?"
petshopB1986@reddit
I watch it any time its on tv.