There are a few things that can be said on behalf of the high-school drama “Bad Genius.” This is a remake of a cult 2017 Thai movie of the same name. Writer/director J.C Lee particularly broadens the unique plot of the last–name–gifted student assisting her rich friends in cheating college entrance exams, to make the movie more suitable to America. Some of those shifts do feel out of date in their depiction and worry about first-generation Americans having to balance their hard-working immigrant parents with the need to cater to their expectations. In most ways, however, Lee is a good filmmaker and dramatist, which is why his revision necessitated adding much-needed color and background to his update, and it is done well. His updated version does benefit from excellent supporting casts and brisk pacing. It is true that the followers of the “Bad Genius” 2017 edition might not have found this rendition makes a difference, but it was pleasantly viable and interesting enough to be of value.
The new ‘Bad Genius keeps its plot as well as its playful heist-style test scenes quite similar to the last movie, and it certainly sticks to the original ‘Bad Genius formula. In both films, a High school student with super intelligence, Lynn (this time performed by Callina Liang) is awarded a scholarship in a prestigious private school and within no time puts herself on the verge of getting suspended to assist her new best friend, an actress-wannabe Grace (Taylor Hickson). As you can probably guess about the character Grace, Lynn is white and rich. This kind of sets the stage for a dramatic teen movie because she will get herself into some serious juvenile trouble that is ferocious yet entertaining.
In both renditions of ‘Bad Genius’, Lynn’s story is not only juxtaposed with that of another scholarship student, but it deepens her story. Bank (Jabari Banks) is aloof, but as Lynn’s story intensifies, supporting his Nigerian mother and her restaurant, Fufu’s Café, becomes more crucial.
In the new rendition, Bank is acutely conscious of his token status in school, which allows him, at a fundraiser in honor of Lynn and his scholarships, to articulate the most cutting line in either movie: “The dinner’s to raise money, Lynn. Celebrations aren’t for mascots,” and perhaps, as an opportunity to guise the meat of the plot.
Even though that unhygienic and ill-mannered concoction of a line does not, however, aid in building towards a more thoughtful and detailed critique of the American school system and the sorts of people who profit from its built-in biases. In general, this new “Bad Genius” builds to a different ending which happens to be far more satisfying than the 2017 movie’s ending because it is better suited for an action-packed crowd-pleaser. Like its predecessor, this story is also a crowd-pleaser because of the surrounding social issues which serve as the foundation for its melodramatic plot twists and genre movie thrills. So you should not expect to see either Lynn or Bank explore the facets of their hyphenated American identities too deeply because they are only vaguely differentiated, or that her “Chinese name” is her “real name,” or when he is menaced by a group of African-Americans sitting outside the Fufu’s Cafe.
Some attention is given to developing Bank and Lynn’s backstories including certain dialogue and more detail is added to Lynn’s rather insecure but loving father, Meng, who is played by Benedict Wong. The new movie notably is more polished on what was already good in the first Bad Genius with the test-taking and note-passing scenes serving as its strongest selling points, however, these are added polish and not new features.
Soft points of the new version of the Bad Genius are without a doubt the most enjoyable features yet tend to be overlooked. In a movie where most of the other white characters do not possess secondary emotions, Hickson shines as Grace, the cunning mastermind planner. On the contrary, Hickson frequently displays her character’s intellect and sometimes instinctively enjoys watching her plans unfold. This, however, is not the same thing as gluttonously stashing with glee in evilness, which can be a commonly misunderstood option for young and inexperienced actors.
Smith also excels while directing for the first time when he allows the characters’ yearning but broken familial settings to speak about their detachment. When Lynn and Bank take a seat in a booth at Fufu’s Café, Lee is one step further in developing the borders of the film frame compared to the prior “Bad Genius”. In this in-between segment, Lee not only captures the diner side windows to Lynn and Bank but also a pedestrian walking by on the other side of the road, emphasizing the warm blue sky with the air conditioning of the restaurant. The camera is across the room, remember, sand o is the perspective of both the young actors and the fufu cafe.
Other things add to Lee’s performance in “Bad Genius,” like Wong’s performance as the dad that enables one to believe in good fathers. But for the bulk of the new, “Bad Genius”, it still does not offer more than some refreshment of its core. It’s, however, a better-than-average remake, if only because it avoids fixing that which wasn’t really broken to begin with.
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