History Film / TheManhattanProject

Sprinkled with liberal dashes of BlackComedy and GallowsHumor plus just a touch of hard ScienceFiction, it belongs to the same genre as ''Film/WarGames'', as both films feature bright high school kids who almost single-handedly cause an international nuclear crisis. Although less high-spirited and possibly more {{Anvilicious}} than '[=War Games=]'', ''The Manhattan Project'' is good fun nonetheless.

Sprinkled with liberal dashes of BlackComedy and GallowsHumor plus just a touch of hard ScienceFiction, it belongs to the same genre as ''Film/WarGames'', as both films feature bright high school kids who almost single-handedly cause an international nuclear crisis. Although less high-spirited and possibly more {{Anvilicious}} than ''War Games'', ''The Manhattan Project'' is good fun nonetheless.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Tagline}} The switch is set... The clock has started... Time's running out!]]]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/manhattanproject_2752.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Apocalypse 1986? A boy and his homemade atomic bomb. Built for the science fair. Seriously.]]

!!Tropes:

* BaitAndSwitchComment: A common cliche is the idea of locking someone in a room and throwing away the key. Here, Matthewson warns Paul that the government will take things even further: they will lock Paul in a room somewhere and throw away the ''room''.

Has nothing to do with the RealLife project led by UsefulNotes/RobertOppenheimer.

Has nothing to do with anything about the project led by UsefulNotes/RobertOppenheimer.

A 1986 American thriller film directed and co-written by Marshall Brickman and starring Christopher Collett, Creator/JohnLithgow, Creator/JohnMahoney, Jill Eikenberry, Creator/CynthiaNixon, and Creator/RobertSeanLeonard.

Features John Mahoney (pre-''Series/{{Frasier}}'') as an Army colonel and Cynthia Nixon (pre-''Series/SexAndTheCity'') as Paul's girlfriend Jenny.

* OedipusComplex: There are a few jokes about this between Paul and his mother. Jenny even suggests this as Paul's motivation to be distrustful of Mathewson.

** At one point in the film, a timer reads 7:16:45. The Trinity test occurred on July 16, 1945.

Paul Stephens (Collett) is a TeenGenius and HighSchoolHustler in Ithaca, New York (best known for being the home of [[UsefulNotes/IvyLeague Cornell University]]). His divorced mother, Elizabeth (Eikenberry), begins dating nuclear scientist Dr. John Mathewson (Lithgow), who runs the lab at "Medatomics", ostensibly doing research in nuclear medicine. The Medatomics lab, however, is just a cover story for Mathewson's real work, which is refining plutonium to previously unheard-of purities for use in nuclear weapons.

Paul decides to steal plutonium from [[TheGovernment the lab]] and use it to build an atomic bomb, partly to Make A Point, but mostly Because He Can. Paul thinks, correctly, that he has the most epic Science Fair project ever, and enters it in a Science Fair in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity. But Dr. Mathewson and the US Army figure out what Paul is up to, they are not amused.

Features John Lithgow playing a good guy during his "serious" period, and a young Cynthia Nixon as the hero's girlfriend Jenny.

* CaliforniaDoubling: Averted. The film is set in Ithaca, New York, which is in the middle of UsefulNotes/NewYorkState about halfway between UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and Buffalo. While not filmed in Ithaca itself, it was still filmed largely in Upstate New York.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Paul's plan apparently didn't go beyond 'win the science fair'.

* ExactTimeToFailure: Double subverted near the end of the movie -- the homemade atomic bomb is accidentally armed and its display is turned on. It starts counting at 999 hours, so at first no one's worried about disarming it in time... until Paul realizes his timing mechanism is degrading and will speed up as it goes on. The double subversion comes into play when he and Dr. Mathewson eventually remember that the degradation will follow a perfect exponential curve, so they can calculate exactly how long it will take the timer to reach zero. (Which is much, much sooner than they'd like.)

Paul Stephens (Collett) is a TeenGenius and HighSchoolHustler from Ithaca, New York (best known for being the home of [[UsefulNotes/IvyLeague Cornell University]]). His divorced mother, Elizabeth (Eikenberry), begins dating nuclear scientist Dr. John Mathewson (Lithgow), who runs the lab at "Medatomics", ostensibly doing research in nuclear medicine. The Medatomics lab, however, is just a cover story for Mathewson's real work, which is refining plutonium to previously unheard-of purities for use in nuclear weapons.

A 1986 thriller with liberal dashes of BlackComedy and GallowsHumor plus just a touch of hard science fiction. Belongs to the same genre as ''Film/WarGames'', as both films feature bright high school kids who almost single-handedly cause an international nuclear crisis. Although less high-spirited and possibly more {{Anvilicious}} than ''Film/WarGames'', ''The Manhattan Project'' is still good fun.

Paul Stephens (Christopher Collett) is a TeenGenius and HighSchoolHustler from Ithaca, New York (best known as being the home of [[UsefulNotes/IvyLeague Cornell University]]). His divorced mother (Jill Eikenberry) starts dating nuclear scientist Dr. John Mathewson (John Lithgow), who runs the lab at "Medatomics", ostensibly doing research in nuclear medicine. The Medatomics lab, however, is just a cover story for Mathewson's real work, which is refining plutonium to previously unheard-of purities for use in nuclear weapons.

Paul decides to steal plutonium from [[TheGovernment the lab]] and use it to build an atomic bomb, partly to Make A Point, but mostly Because He Can. Paul thinks, correctly, that he has the most epic Science Fair project ever, and enters it in a Science Fair in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity. When Dr. Mathewson and the U.S. Army figure out what Paul is up to, they are not amused.

Features Creator/JohnLithgow playing a good guy during his "serious" period, and a young [[Series/SexAndTheCity Cynthia Nixon]] as the hero's girlfriend Jenny.

* CasualDangerDialog: Dr. Mathewson when the bomb [[spoiler: suddenly begins counting down to detonation]].

A 1986 thriller with liberal dashes of BlackComedy and GallowsHumor plus just a touch of [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness hard science fiction]]. Belongs to the same genre as ''Film/WarGames'', as both films feature bright high school kids who almost single-handedly cause an international nuclear crisis. Although less high-spirited and possibly more {{Anvilicious}} than ''Film/WarGames'', ''The Manhattan Project'' is still good fun.

* NotSoDifferent: Dr. Mathewson's actions toward Paul implies that the boy reminds him a lot of himself when he was younger.

* [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's]] [[FrickinLaserBeams Frickin' Laser Beam]]: The Medatomics lab uses one to purify plutonium. Dr. Mathewson uses it to impress Paul by having it cut through a steel plate. Later, Paul uses it to cut a small hole in the wall to help him smuggle out the plutonium.

* WireDilemma: Subverted; when disarming the bomb, Paul's design necessitates severing all six wires simultaneously, since the other five could set off their triggering charges prematurely if they tried to do it one at a time.

* HighSchoolHustler: Paul

%%* JerkAss: Paul, maybe.