Line #69 Film/RealGenius


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7	''Real Genius'' is a comedy/science fiction film produced in 1985, starring Creator/ValKilmer, Creator/GabrielJarret, Creator/MichelleMeyrink, and Creator/WilliamAtherton.
8
9	The movie starts out about Mitch Taylor, a 15 year old boy who designs a cutting edge laser for his high school science fair. This gains him the attention of professor and educational TV show (think ''Series/CosmosAPersonalVoyage'' with Creator/CarlSagan) host Jerry Hathaway, who offers to enter the wunderkind at [[FictionalCounterpart Pacific Tech]] as an accelerated student. There, Mitch takes classes taught by tape recorder and meets the irreverent Chris Knight; who tries to teach the younger Mitch that he can't take everything in life so seriously, particularly when Mitch ends up as the ButtMonkey of the school's {{Jerkass}}, [[TheRival Kent]].
10
11	As it turns out, Chris and Kent are competing for the same post-graduate position under Hathaway, and while Chris's lighthearted quasi-slacker attitude rankles the professor, Kent shamelessly toadies up and finally seems to triumph over the heroes when he sabotages Chris and Mitch's laser project work.
12
13	The final straw comes when Chris and Mitch discover that Hathaway has secretly contracted with the CIA to turn their laser into a [[KillSat weapon]] and take all the credit. Chris [[TechnologicalPacifist doesn't approve]], and recruits the genius kids of the university to help him take revenge on both the greedy Hathaway and Kent during the laser's first live-fire exercise.
14
15	----
16	!!This film provides examples of:
17	[[foldercontrol]]
18
19	[[folder:A-M]]
20	* AcademicAlphaBitch: Kent is a [[GenderInvertedTrope male example]] - good enough to be a student teaching assistant (he teaches Dr. Hathaway's lower curriculum courses), but aggressive in his academic superiority and ruthless to anyone he perceives as a threat to this primacy.
21	-->'''Kent:''' You'll rue the day.
22	-->'''Chris:''' [[AntiquatedLinguistics "Rue the day?" Who talks like that?]]
23	* ActuallyPrettyFunny: The first time Chris goes to Dr. Hathaway's house, Hathaway tells him he wants to see more of him at the lab, to which Chris replies, "[[ReflexiveResponse Fine. I'll gain weight]]." Dr. Hathaway chuckles at this.
24	* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents:
25	** After speaking with Mitch's parents at the science fair, Dr. Hathaway asks them if, by any chance, Mitch is adopted.
26	** Mitch has to assure Jordan that the reason he won't take her to meet them is that he's ashamed of ''them'', not of her.
27	** After watching Hathaway on TV, Mitch's mother has only one question: is his hair real?
28	* AppleForTeacher: Chris hands a red apple to Dr. Hathaway, who dismissively throws it in the trash. However, it turns out to be [[MadeOfExplodium a disguised bomb]].
29	* AppliedPhlebotinum: Some of the college pranks, like Ick's "ice", toe the line because nobody bothers to explain exactly what it is. On the other hand, the laser technology in general is real, but Chris's breakthrough on the five megawatt laser is pure {{Technobabble}}. WordOfGod is that they used real cutting-edge research into high-energy lasers, [[AndSomeOtherStuff but purposefully screwed it up a little so anyone with the resources to re-create it couldn't hurt themselves]].
30	* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Jordan Cochran definitely seems to fit somewhere on the autism spectrum, but since the film was made in the 80s, it wasn't as well known as it is today.
31	* AwesomeButImpractical: Chris uses liquid nitrogen to freeze ice which he then cuts coin slugs from with a filament knife just to avoid paying for vending machines. Even putting aside the fact that he doesn't have to pay for the gas itself if he uses university resources, he still has to freeze it into a shape that fits into the coin slot and registers as a coin.
32	* BadassBoast: After finishing Hathaway's final, Chris passes a note to Hathaway that reads, "I aced this."
33	* {{Balloonacy}}: Some trailers and promotional material depict Chris floating in a deck chair held aloft by balloons. [[TrailersAlwaysLie This didn't make the final cut of the film, however.]]
34	* BigBlackout: Chris Knight causes one when he turns on his laser beam pathway for the "Tanning Invitational." It's not known how widespread the blackout is; the audience only sees the Pacific Tech campus.
35	-->'''Chris Knight''': "Relax. That's just the fuses at the substation, they'll have it back on in a minute. Maybe I shouldn't have shorted across the building transformer. But more important: did we get a charge?"
36	* BlamingTheVictim: After Kent sabotages the laser, he tells Knight that it was his own fault for not inspecting the optics before running it.
37	* BreakoutCharacter: It's hard to remember that Chris Knight ''wasn't'' the main character. Even the DVD box cover [[WolverinePublicity gives Kilmer the only billing, and uses only his photo]].
38	* BrilliantButLazy: Chris has spent much of his senior year involving himself in diversions in an attempt to avoid responsibility.
39	-->'''Hathaway:''' When you first started at Pacific Tech you were well on your way to becoming another Einstein and then you know what happened?
40	-->'''Chris:''' I got a haircut?
41	* CallBack:
42	** "It's a moral imperative," used first by Chris to inspire Mitch; later Mitch returns the favor.
43	** Mitch, having fallen asleep while studying, has a nightmare. "No, not the mailbox again!"
44	* ChekhovsGun: Hathaway hates popcorn, as Chris finds out when he visits the professor's house. The protagonists later use popcorn in a spectacular way during their revenge scheme by turning Hathaway's house into a giant Jiffy-Pop.
45	* CargoShip: Implied in-universe with Kent and a bowl full of Jell-O, as mentioned by Chris.
46	* CoinWalkFlexing: In one scene, Mitch walks into class to talk to Chris, but Chris blows him off and leaves. During this scene, Chris is knuckle rolling a coin with each hand and keeps it up as he gets up from his desk and walks away.
47	* CloudCuckoolander: Lazlo Holyfeld, who lives in underground steam tunnels accessed via Chris and Mitch's closet.
48	* ClosetSublet: Lazlo, as described above, appears at first to live in the closet.
49	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: A frequent source of zingers for Chris.
50	-->'''Dr. Dodd:''' (in an office setting) Why is that toy on your head?
51	-->'''Chris:''' If I wear it anywhere else, it chafes.
52	* ComingOfAgeStory: A major theme of the film -- Mitch is the primary example, but Chris, Jordan, and Lazlo get to do some growing up by the end.
53	* CoinOnAStringTrick: Chris creates slugs for the vending machine from ice, frozen with liquid nitrogen.
54	* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Kent winds up in a house being filled to the breaking point with laser-popped popcorn...and has an absolute blast. In fact it seems to give him a better disposition in the end.
55	* DeadpanSnarker:
56	** Chris.
57	** Dr. Hathaway has his moments, especially in the scene where Mitch is introduced.
58	--->'''Old Woman:''' "What is [[UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein Mr. Einstein]] really like?"
59	--->'''Dr. Hathaway:''' "Dead."
60	* {{Deuteragonist}}: Chris. The plot starts out with Mitch as the protagonist, but eventually this role gets shared between him and Chris.
61	* DisastrousDemonstration: Invoked by the heroes to ensure the space-laser will never be deployed.
62	* DoesNotLikeSpam: Hathaway hates popcorn, and dogs. No points for guessing what his HumiliationConga involves.
63	* EnergyWeapon: The plot centers around building a big one, for use in a KillSat. It behaves like a real laser, though.
64	* EveryoneHasStandards: Kent is a huge {{Jerkass}} to everyone that he isn't sucking up to, and he even sabotages Chris' prototype, which Kent knows will lead to Chris flunking out. However, even he is appalled to learn that the laser work he's contributed towards will be used as a weapon.
65	* ExplainExplainOhCrap: The team are celebrating creating the prototype when Lazlo interrupts and asks them to think of what they've created: A high-yield beam that unleashes a blast of energy too powerful to be used longer than fifteen seconds and not feasible for anything but one specific purpose:
66	-->'''Lazlo''': Look at the facts. Very high powered. Portable. Limited firing time, unlimited range. All you's need is a tracking system and a, a large spinning mirror and you can vaporize a human target from space.
67	--> ''(Through his talk, [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness Chris' grin has slowly faded and he's stopped chewing his food]] as the others all share looks of stunned understanding.)''
68	-->'''Chris''': This is not good.
69	* FauxAffablyEvil: David Decker. A completely amoral CIA agent who orchestrates the creation of a KillSat without any oversight from the President, the DOD, or any other responsible agency. When an underling disagrees with him, he casually orders the man's murder. Don Carnagle warns Hathaway that Decker is "dangerous" implying that they both might be killed if they don't finish the laser.
70	* FictionalCounterpart: Pacific Tech for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Institute_of_Technology Caltech]]. What's really cool about it is that at first, Caltech was eager to help make the movie... at least until they learned it was critical of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Defense_Initiative Strategic Defense Initiative]] in general and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Teller Edward Teller]] in particular; as Caltech operates and manages NASA's neighboring Jet Propulsion Laboratory, they couldn't afford to critique the man, let alone be involved in a movie which cast Creator/WilliamAtherton as his counterpart. But it all turned out perfectly anyway, as a Caltech alumnus came out of the woodwork to provide assistance - and [[https://web.archive.org/web/20021011104051/http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~erich/real_genius_refs.html load the film]] with {{Easter Egg}}s.
71	* {{Foreshadowing}}: At the beginning of the movie, Kent tells Mitch that orders go "...from God, to Jerry, to me." Later on, "Jesus" talks directly to Kent, changing the middleman as it were.
72	* FriendlyAddressPrivileges: As the star pupil of the school, Chris is allowed to call Jerry by his first name. Kent isn't.
73	* GeniusSlob: Chris dresses like a beach bum and his room is a complete dump.
74	* GenkiGirl: Jordan is hyperactive to the point of not sleeping, never stops talking, and glomps Mitch almost as soon as he shows up.
75	* GiantFood: Mitch is offered a cherry the size of a baseball by another student. "I grow them myself."
76	* GiveMeASign: Invoked on Kent, making him think "Jesus" is talking to him. Later played straight when he's standing outside Dr. Hathaway's house.
77	* GodGuise: Jordan implants a radio transceiver in Kent's braces, whereupon Mitch pretends to be Jesus to learn what Hathaway plans to do with the laser.
78	-->'''Mitch''': "And from now on, stop playing with yourself."\
79	'''Kent''': "It ''is'' God!"
80	* HardWorkMontage: Several, including Mitch settling in at the college, and Mitch and Chris working on the laser.
81	* HeroicBSOD:
82	** Lazlo is suggested to have gone through one. He loved solving scientific problems, but paid no attention to what his work was used for. When someone told him his work was killing people, he "cracked, ''severely''."
83	** Chris has one once he learns the laser's true purpose.
84	* HighlyVisiblePassword: Lazlo's attempts to hack into the military computer are masked while typing, but then subsequently displayed anyways. PASSWORD: ###### (trying "AAAAAD"). This would likely be normal behavior for a brute-force script, as it would produce such comments as local notifications. However, it was shown that Lazlo was typing the entries by hand.
85	* HighSchoolHustler: Chris Knight, although this is in a university.
86	* HollywoodProvincialism: An unusual case where the issue is mistakes in California law. Sherry Nugil appears to be waiting for Mitch to turn sixteen; age of consent in California is eighteen.
87	* HumiliationConga: At the end, for Hathaway. His project is ruined and likely going to be audited, which will uncover his skimming off the top to pay for renovations on his home. Said house has been destroyed... by popcorn, which he hates. And finally the dog that he can't stand [[LickedByTheDog shows up to commiserate]].
88	** And it's even possible that he will be killed later: Major Carnagle warned him that Decker is dangerous. And then Hathaway [[spoiler: sleeps with his daughter.]]
89	* IAteWhat: The {{Trope Namer\|s}}, though the actual example isn't related; Chris talks Mitch into tasting something, and when Mitch asks what it is, Chris says, "I don't know, I found it in one of the labs," then, after [[SpitTake a lot of spitting]], lets on he was joking; it's just yogurt. The actual Trope Namer comes from something Chris says later in the movie "I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates who said, 'I drank what?'"
90	* INeverSaidItWasPoison: Kent offers Chris condolences for his meltdown...which Kent shouldn't know about.
91	* IgnoredEpiphany: A year before the film takes place, Lazlo tells Chris the story of how he snapped and ended up in the steam tunnels. From this he learns the perils of solving problems without thinking through what the things he creates will be used for. He forgets this when Hathaway attacks his ego, and ends up creating a weapon. He later laments on this fact and says "I'm such an asshole." Lazlo helpfully replies: "I know how you feel, Chris, and [[WithFriendsLikeThese you're right]]."
92	* TheInsomniac: Jordan.
93	-->'''Jordan:''' I never sleep, I don't know why. I had a roommate and I drove her nuts, I mean really nuts, they had to take her away in an ambulance and everything. But she's okay now, but she had to transfer to an easier school, but I don't know if that had anything to do with being my fault. But listen, if you ever need to talk or you need help studying just let me know, 'cause I'm just a couple doors down from you guys and I never sleep, okay?
94	* InsultBackfire: Chris delivers one to Dr. Hathaway:
95	--> '''Chris Knight:''' "You unbelievable bastard."
96	--> '''Dr. Hathaway:''' "Count on it."
97	* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: Mitch is fairly disconnected from the social scene due to his high intelligence being off-putting to others. Chris talks to Mitch about being much the same when younger.
98	* TheJailbaitWait: Sherry Nugil appears to be waiting for Mitch's 16th birthday. ([[ArtisticLicenseLaw However, the age of consent in California is eighteen.]])
99	* JerkAss:
100	** Kent
101	** Dr. Hathaway
102	** Chris ([[JerkWithAHeartOfGold though he restricts these tendencies to the uncool characters]]).
103	** Decker, who casually orders one of his colleagues murdered at the beginning of the film, and is implied he might do the same to Hathaway if he doesn't produce a working laser.
104	--->'''Decker:''' I'm afraid w're going to have to [[DeadlyEuphemism liberate]] George.
105	* JerkJock: Kent is the closest you'll find at a school full of nerds.
106	* KickTheDog: Kent records Mitch's teary phone conversation with his parents and later plays it over the cafeteria loudspeakers to humiliate Mitch.
107	* KidsAreCruel: "They stuffed me into a mailbox -- did I ever tell you that?"
108	* KillSat: The film opens with a CIA mockup presentation of a laser beam used to conduct precise orbital assassinations. Hathaway has the contract to build the genuine article. However, the plan is not to put the laser on a satellite but aboard a shuttle that would launch, conduct an assassination, and then land.
109	* KubrickStare: Mitch, as the recording of him crying to his parents is playing on the cafeteria Public Address system.
110	* LandlineEavesdropping: When Mitch calls home after being humiliated in front of Prof. Hathaway by [[{{Jerkass}} Kent]], Kent and his two friends pick up an adjacent phone to spy on him as well as recording it for later humiliation.
111	* LaserGuidedKarma: ...Pun intended? [[spoiler:Hathaway is completely and utterly FUBAR ''specifically because'' he acted like a dickless weasel. He embezzled project funds to renovate his house, instead blackmailing his students to do all the development on the laser. His abuse led to them sabotaging it, which means the project is kaput and he'll be caught in the ensuing audit. Given that Knight's popcorn prank destroyed his renovated house, he can't even sell it in a half-assed attempt to replace the funds. Hell, his career is a very public failure, so all his connections will abandon him, meaning whatever measures he took to flunk Chris out of college/ruin his career are going to fall by the wayside. Oh, and he exposed to scrutiny the kind of black ops sociopaths who asked for an assassination laser in the first place, which is not good for one's life expectancy..]].
112	* LickedByTheDog: Hathaway. Naturally, he can't stand dogs.
113	* LikeParentLikeSpouse: Jordan has the [[MotorMouth same mannerisms as Mitch's mother]]. In modern times, she would possibly have been diagnosed with ADHD.
114	* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Jordan, who bursts in on Mitch while [[MaleRestroomEtiquette he's in the bathroom]] and all but glomps him -- entirely innocently; she wants to give him a sweater she knitted for him overnight. Part of ''her'' CharacterDevelopment occurs when Mitch starts paying serious attention to her; she calms down and develops a personality other than "hyperactive girl".
115	** Additionally, Chris acts as a Manic Pixie Dream Boy for Mitch, teaching him to loosen up and enjoy life instead of studying all day, every day.
116	* MenCantKeepHouse: Chris Knight's half of the dorm room is an unabashed disaster area, even in comparison to the rest of the dorm.
117	* MotorMouth: Mitch has two.
118	** Jordan tends to talk in long strings of sentences, with just barely enough of a pause to catch her breath when necessary.
119	** Mitch's mother is one. This could imply that [[LikeParentLikeSpouse this is one reason why Mitch is attracted to Jordan]].
120	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
121	** Downplayed, but when Mitch (as the voice of Jesus) points out just what Hathaway has built and how Kent unknowingly helped him, Kent is visibly and audibly upset to learn that he's helped build a weapon.
122	** Played straight with Chris as Laslo explains his conclusion of the laser's intended purpose at the restaurant. Chris slowly stops eating his food and gets a thousand yard stare before saying flatly, "This is not good..."
123	[[/folder]]
124
125	[[folder:N-Z]]
126	* NerdsAreSexy: Sherry Nugil seems to think so, as she sets out to seduce the ten smartest men in the world, and despite Mitch turning her down, eventually ends up with [[spoiler:Lazlo]].
127	* NeverWinTheLottery: Inverted with Lazlo. He uses a computer and automated writing rig to enter the Frito-Lay sweepstakes millions of times, "no purchase necessary." He figures to win "32.6% of the prizes, including the car". Chris points out, "That kind of takes the fun out of it, doesn't it?" His response, "They set up the rules." Later, he shows up driving an RV hauling a trailer stuffed with other prizes.
128	* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Kent [[spoiler: sabotaging the laser after finals]] is responsible for Chris making [[spoiler: a breakthrough on how to build an even more powerful laser]].
129	* NoodleIncident:
130	** We never do find out much about Lazlo's big project in TheSeventies, aside from Chris mentioning that it was killing people and drove Lazlo into a HeroicBSOD.
131	** There was apparently an incident where Chris found Kent naked with a bowl of Jell-O.
132	--->'''Kent:''' I was hot, and I was hungry!
133	** There's also mention of mutant hamster races and a Madam Curie lookalike contest.
134	* NoOSHACompliance: While the laser lab appears up to spec on the surface, some of the kids' practices while utilizing it are anything but. At one point, Chris handles supercooled materials with oven mitts and tongs, and is seen using a welder's mask in place of safety goggles. Most horrifyingly, when the five megawatt laser is fired, it goes through the cinder blocks, the wall, and halfway across town -- it's a miracle nobody was killed.
135	* NotSoAboveItAll: Despite the prickly, standoffish demeanor he maintains for most of the movie, Kent most certainly ''doesn't'' share Dr. Hathaway's distaste for popcorn, and when the climactic "popcorn eruption" occurs he seems to be enjoying himself as much as the other students.
136	* NotWhatISignedOnFor: The students were led to believe that the laser they were designing was meant for industrial applications, and Mitch's high-school science project was about their potential for ''fusion reactors.'' When they realize it's actually a KillSat, they are '''pissed.'''
137	* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Hathaway isn't one but he plays one on TV. He's a physicist, but when we see the taping of one of his shows he's talking about the colon (a medical subject).
138	* OutOfControlPopcorn: Invoked. The heroes hijack the test of the giant space laser, redirecting it to Dr. Hathaway's house, which they had previously filled with unpopped popcorn kernels. The popcorn all pops and explodes out of the house.
139	* OutWithABang: Poor Professor Hostetler...
140	* PracticeTargetOverkill: Some college students discover a way to raise the power output of a lab laser, and secretly modify it for a test firing. These wonderballs calculated a beam in the megawatt range; the beam produced was in the terawatt range, which burned a hole completely through a concrete safety shield, then the lab's cinder block walls, then a bronze statue of the college's founder, a tree, and a billboard which dropped flaming debris onto a restaurant's roof, before likely carrying on into space.
141	* RunningGag:
142	** Mitch's classmates for one lecture keep disappearing, leaving recording devices in the room so they can skip class. Eventually Mitch is the only one remaining, as even the ''instructor'' has ditched class and left a tape playing in his stead.
143	** Kent likes to play with himself, which gets used against him near the end when Mitch does his GodGuise through a transmitter implanted in Kent's braces to get information out of Kent.
144	* SatelliteLoveInterest: Sherry Nugil is a variation. Out of the three scenes total that she appears in, the first features her flirting with Chris, and the other two are spent as a willing love interest for Mitch and Lazlo, respectively.
145	* ScienceHero: The entire cast is made up of science and engineering students at one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
146	* SexyShirtSwitch: Susan comes part-way downstairs wearing Jerry's shirt.
147	* ShameAccusation: {{Zigzagged\|Trope}}. After Mitch suggests he doesn't want to introduce GenkiGirl Jordan to his parents, she demands to know if it's because he's ashamed of her.
148	--> '''Mitch:''' ''[[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents No, them.]]''
149	--> '''Jordan:''' (understanding) Oh.
150	* ShoutOut: "Drain Experts, Inc." and "Darlington Electronic Instruments" are references to... [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow well, let's just say they're references and leave it at that]]. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_System_at_the_California_Institute_of_Technology#Dabney_House Enter if you dare.]]
151	* ShownTheirWork: It's debatable how much is this and how much might be considered EasterEggs, but, aside from the over-arching Hollywood Physics plot, the number of minor, technical details that are accurate probably represents how many "not-Cal Tech" alumni crawled from the woodwork to flesh out the details of Pacific Tech campus life and the general science scenes.
152	* SmiteMeOMightySmiter: Kent after he goes into Jerry Hathaway's house after being warned not to go inside by Jesus and by his fellow students cries out, "Okay, God, let me have it!" It is then that the student's laser project is activated from the plane and projects its beam straight through the window of the house to activate what amounts to a giant Jiffy-Pop.
153	* StealthPun: Hathaway goes from calling Don an "asshole" and then doing an educational show about the colon. He's then framed next to an educational model of said organ, clearly implying that he's an asshole.
154	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: As smart as Mitch is, it's not the least bit surprising that he still struggles in college; it's not only difficult for anyone to assimilate into a new scenario and being away from home for the first time, but since he was only 15, he's even more out of place with people at least three years older than him. This isn't even getting into how due to his parents' influence, he was already more focused on his studies than other aspects of school, including activities and honing his social skills.
155	* TechnologicalPacifist: Lazlo, as well as Chris and Mitch to some extent.
156	* ThereIsAGod: Kent's reaction to hearing the voice of "Jesus" (actually Mitch through a transceiver in Kent's braces) telling him to [[SelfAbuse stop playing with himself]]. PlayedForLaughs, although it does seem to convince Kent to have a HeelFaceTurn.
157	* TheThreeFacesOfAdam: Mitch Taylor is [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife the Hunter]], Chris Knight is [[TheAce the Lord]], and Lazlo Hollyfeld is [[MentorArchetype the Prophet]].
158	* TokenGoodTeammate: Bodie. Even though he hangs out with Kent and his group of bullies, he isn't spiteful towards Mitch or laughs at the pranks they pull on him. He even makes one of the film's best lines against Kent:
159	-->'''Bodie:''' Well, I guess it goes from God, to Jerry, to you... to the cleaners. Right, Kent?
160	* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: Jordan is a short-haired, genius scientist who builds an underwater breathing apparatus, but also knits sweaters just for the hell of it.
161	* TruthInTelevision: The way in which the characters feel such guilt over their unintentional work on weapons projects is similar to many of the physicists who worked on the Manhattan Project. Notably, [[ScienceHero physics rock star]] Richard Feynman said something similar based on his experience. He was so caught up in the demanding and intellectually stimulating work that he never stopped to question whether what they were doing was a good idea.
162	* TVGenius: Averted, most of the kids, minus some hyperactivity disorders, speak rather like normal humans. Notable in the ice scene when Ick says that the ice is going to go from solid to gas and doesn't use the actual word for this process, sublimation.
163	* UnderdressedForTheOccasion: At a job interview, no less. This is deliberate on Chris' part, however; he is trying his hardest ''not'' to be taken seriously, at least until Hathaway threatens to throw him out.
164	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight:
165	** Pacific Tech seems to run on this, but it's most egregious in one scene when a student walks down the hall, right past Chris and co. wearing gas masks while gassing Kent's room, and merely says "hi."
166	** The guy who freaks out cramming for finals. Nobody even reacts to him, except for Ick taking his seat at the table.
167	* VanillaEdition: The sole DVD release doesn't have any deleted scenes, cast/crew commentary, or trailers or TV spots for the movie itself. But it ''does'' have trailers for ''Film/{{Hook}}'' and ''Film/{{Jumanji}}''.
168	* TheVoice: Invoked. Jordan, Chris, Ick and Mitch stick a transmitter in Kent's braces to make him ''think'' God is talking to him.
169	* YouRemindMeOfX:
170	** Chris sees himself in young Mitch.
171	--->'''Chris''': You see Mitch, I used to be you. And lately I've been missing me so I asked Dr. Hathaway if I could room with me again and he said sure.
172	** Later on, he [[SincerityMode sincerely]] expands on this; IntelligenceEqualsIsolation. It's why he keeps screwing around with Mitch, he's trying to help him not be so isolated, and have a more normal life than he did.
173	--->'''Chris''': When I was three years old, I balanced my father's checkbook. They sent me to school and fired their accountant. My father was so intimidated, he stopped speaking to me. My teachers disliked me because I was smarter than they were. My classmates hated me because I blew the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_distribution Bell curve]]. Sound familiar? My mother dressed me in [[StereotypicalNerd white shirts, hush puppies and a briefcase]], guaranteeing that no girl would ever talk to me.
174	* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: The second to last laser prototype that was successful [[spoiler: until Kent sabotaged it]].
175	[[/folder]]

Context Film / RealGenius