40/47
A group of seniors at an enterprising high school band together to take down a rigged college admissions system. Remake of the Thai film Bad Genius (2017). Early in the film, there is a scene showing Lynn calculating the cost of traveling to the private school she visited. The film showed a stack of public transportation tickets that are clearly marked with a SEPTA logo, which stands for Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. SEPTA operates in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Half a minute later, the film identifies the city Lynn and her father live in as Seattle. References Roots (1977). Bad Genius (2024) is a remake of a 2017 Thai film of the same name. It uses the 2017 original as a recipe, down to the dialogue, sets, atmosphere, characters’ ambitions, and even the characters’ placement on the set. It follows this recipe exactly, only deviating slightly towards the end and changing a few minor plot elements from the original. Somehow, in doing so, it becomes a bland, lazy, forced experience. To understand why, we need to talk a little about the original 2017 film and what made it so special. Bad Genius (2017) is a film that I loved so much that I watched it more times than I care to admit; so yes, I am biased. It has its flaws – it’s a bit cheesy at times with the sound effects and directorial choices – but it turns out to be a successful and engaging heist film. It was a massive hit in its home country of Thailand and across Southeast Asia. However, it was what this film accomplished otherwise that drew me in so much. The original 2017 film took on the difficult tasks of writing intelligent characters and putting them in an otherwise boring, examining atmosphere on film, while also somehow making it incredibly suspenseful. It took four fantastically cast leads who had little to no prior acting experience and turned them into stars. Its production was spectacular, incorporating some cool effects from its soundtrack to the on-screen display of the text overlay used to convey its message. Lynn was *smart*. She came across as a truly intelligent young woman with exceptional talents who had a loving father she cared for; testament to the original writers. Her relationships felt natural and the supporting cast made sure of this in their acting and chemistry. Her methods and schemes were shown through the film in a satisfying and enjoyable way. Her relationship with her father was emotional and well-acted on both ends. The story had pace and purpose, but most importantly it had SUSPENSE. And all of this was done by being filmed and produced in a country that is probably not considered a cinematic powerhouse. Bad Genius (2024) has little to nothing of what it tries to copy. The remake somehow manages to take all the right ingredients (lighting, suspenseful music, same plot points, same characters) and turn it into a sloppy rendition of what feels like a poor dub of the original. It has no great moments. It has no charm. It has almost no emotion. Lynn (2024) *acts* smartly, but we don’t feel like the character is actually a genius. The classroom scenes *feel* like they’re trying to convey suspense, but they mostly come off as dumb. The supporting cast is subpar. It doesn’t have the slightest bit of suspense. All we’re left with that translated well is a good father figure, thanks to the great Benedict Wong, and good acting by Callina Liang, who tries to liven up the poor acting. There’s no reason to watch this. Watch the original if you haven’t (or if you just want to rewatch it) and thank me later.