Bad Genius (2017)

I think it was written somewhere that "Bad Genius" is based on real facts. I don't know in what extent, but I suppose not too much. Otherwise we could also add SciFi to the genre. The movie is somewhere in the teen drama area, but considering at what level it brings an apparently mundane topic = exam cheating, it's at least worthy of comparing with Mission Impossible (since we anyway had that on the list recently).

We have two very bright students (a girl and a boy), but with a poor social status, who are granted a scholarship in a top high school in Thailand. Long story short: the kids coming from rich families see a good opportunity to pay a fee to raise their grades. And from this a series of very complex cheating strategies starts getting devised, culminating with an international test required in the admission process to U.S. colleges, where it gets to "time zone difference exploits". I won't spoil now the charm of the movie with too many details. It's enough to say that this is the "SciFi" part (note the quotes).

We also have consistent drama involved here, which is maybe less visible in the trailer. From the motivation for the "evil master plan", up to the relation between the two main characters and a radical change from cheater to non-cheater and vice versa of both of them. I won't give spoilers of who does what, but at some point we have a very nicely composed scene, somewhere on a highway bridge... pay attention to the traffic signs - if that's not intended than even more the outcome is excellent. Considering the action, even if the first 15 minutes seem to announce something slow and with a serious boringness potential, the movie gets pretty alert afterwards. There are moments when the action slows down or which don't make much sense (how can you know in Thailand what kind of toilet sinks are in a test center in Sydney, or how come a guy looking like a Russian mobster - accent included - ended up as part of the surveillance personnel there). All things apart, overall is catchy enough and I'd even say that given the subject, there wasn't much more to get out of this.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (I know... it gets a bit boring, but since I don't have time to find something better.. or worst... what can I do?)