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GENIUS
Written, Directed and Produced by Babar Ahmed
Director Of Photography Jonathan Derek BelinskiMiss Helen Goldwyn - Kelly Walters
Michael Jones - Diogerlin Linares
Young Michael - Kenyan Isaiah Lurid
Dad - Christopher Dial
Secretary - Lisa Nunn
School Principal - Howard Taylor
Hannah - Lauren NelsonGenius is the story of a boy named Michael (Diogerlin Linares) with learning disabilities who is infatuated with a fellow student, Hannah (Lauren Nelson). Unfortunately, Hannah only dates smart boys. To Michael that means he must become a genius at economics. Supposedly this is the only class the two share so this is the only class that he has opportunity to flex his brain to impress her. He goes to his teacher, Miss Goldwyn (Kelly Walters) for tutoring. Only Ms. Goldwyn doesn't teach well. She can't handle her class and she is probably the most grating teacher that has ever walked the face of the earth. But she makes a bargain with Michael. He keeps her class under control and he gets extra help. It's when Ms. Goldwyn attempts to fulfill her end of the bargain that she discovers Michael has dyslexia. What can I say about this film? Plenty. It is nice to see that they let people with absolutely no talent appear in films. Unfortunately this will always make for a bad film. Unless the film is so bad it attains some sort of cult status. No chance for this one. Kelly Walters has to be this irritating in real life. No one could fake this kind of obnoxious behavior this well. She lashes out at everyone, squints to make her self as unattractive as possible and has line delivery like a bad high school play. To make matters worse her counterpoint Mr. Linares is just as bad. He has dyslexia. Dyslexia does not make you talk like a retard. Period. He walks through his part like he's sleeping. His laid back delivery gives him a smug superior demeanor. It's hard to feel sorry for someone who acts like that. This leaves us with his lady love, Hannah. A little hint for the director. If this girl is supposed to be the focus of Michael's affections through the whole movie, then maybe she should be in the whole movie! She's in the beginning, snubbing Michael. We see very little of her throughout the film. And then she shows up at the end and likes Michael because of his take charge attitude in class. Huh? She has less motivation than a Playboy centerfold. And I don't mean the playboy model. I mean the actual piece of paper that the picture of the nice naked lady appears on. She has the characterization of paper. The film is very pretty to look at. You can tell that director Barbar has a true affection for New York City. It's a real shame that he had to put this ugly movie in with all the wonderful shots of the big apple. Now here's the kicker. I am a huge sucker for a great ending that I never see coming. Unfortunately, I can't tell you the ending because that would end my career as a reviewer. No matter how bad the film is, never spoil the ending. The ending is great. I was speechless for at least thirty seconds. Now does this make GENIUS a great film? Nope, not even close. If you like a good twist to a stupid movie, then watch this. If not, rent something with Jack Nicholson in it. Even his bad movies are good.
Bio Info for Douglas Waltz
In the spare time afforded him between a full time job for the local phone company, Douglas is happily married with five, that's right five, children. He is a staff writer for the Print magazine Cult Cuts and does work for the webzine (www.cultcuts.net). He also publishes his own small press zine called X-Ploitation. In addition to that he's working on an annual publication of short stories from various writers called On The Night Highways. And if that wasn't enough he's about to shoot his first short film, Phone Sex, sometime this summer.