What is it?
The 2006 American Christian-themed dramatic thriller movie The Genius Club.
What is it about?
This is how Rotten Tomatoes describes this movie:
On Christmas Eve, someone plucks seven geniuses from their homes and demands that they solve world problems like hunger, war, and cancer in one night.
An unprecedented disaster is about to unfold, and in order to ensure the safety of all humankind, a group of high-profile thinkers selected for their stratospheric IQs must come up with a solution to all the world’s problems over the course of one grueling night in writer / director Timothy A. Chey’s tense apocalyptic thriller.
- Rating: PG (Some Disturbing Content|Thematic Elements)
- Genre: Drama
- Original Language: English
- Director: Timothy A. Chey
- Producer: Arch Bonnema, Daishi Takiishi
- Writer: Timothy A. Chey
- Release Date (Theaters): Oct 27, 2006 Limited
- Release Date (Streaming): Nov 30, 2016
- Runtime: 1h 51m
- Distributor: Riverrain Films
- Production Co: Riverrain Films
This is how Wikipedia describes this movie:
The Genius Club is an American 2006 Christian-themed dramatic thriller film written and directed by Tim Chey.
It was released on 27 October 2006 via Cinemark Theatres.[1]
The film tells the story of seven geniuses who try to solve the world’s problems in one night in order to prevent a nuclear bomb from exploding in Washington, D.C..
The film was produced and distributed by Cloud Ten Pictures and RiverRain Productions.
Plot
On Christmas Eve, Armand (Tom Sizemore), a terrorist who has a hidden nuclear device in Washington D.C., forces the president of the United States government (Jack Scalia) to round up seven geniuses with IQs over 200.
The group consists of a casino owner (Carol Abney), a biochemist (Paula Jai Parker), a professional baseball player (Matt Medrano), a seminary student (Jacob Bonnema), an economics professor (Phillip Moon), a painter (Tricia Helfer), and a pizza delivery guy (Stephen Baldwin).
The government places them in a bomb shelter and explains to the group that they are there to solve the world’s problems in one night; if they fail to gather a thousand points before morning, the terrorist will detonate the hidden nuclear device planted in the basement of the ‘genius lair’.
Cast
- Carol Abney as Julia Endersol
- Stephen Baldwin as Rory Johnson
- Jacob Bonnema as Jacob Chernov
- Tricia Helfer as Ally Simon
- Matt Medrano as Jose Delgado
- Philip Moon as Professor Lee
- Paula Jai Parker as Tatiana
- Huntley Ritter as Brian Mehlman
- Jack Scalia as The President
- Tom Sizemore as Armand
- Arch Bonnema as Chief of Staff Norm
- Dimitri Diatchenko as Jesse, The Mechanic
- Alasdair Lincoln as Stable Boy
Background
The film was marketed during the 2007 Marché du Film (film market) which ran simultaneously with the 60th annual Cannes Film Festival.
Director Tim Chey wanted to make a film about the world’s issues while combining the humanity and intelligence of the various character geniuses.[2]
Arch Bonnema produced the film, and his son Jacob plays Jacob Chernov, the seminary student.
The film is not explicitly religious, though it is Christian in its tone and message; seminary student Chernov, for example, at times quotes the Bible and answers the “meaning of life” question by observing that “there is no meaning outside of God.”.
Both director Tim Chey, who is a Christian, and the producers believed it was important that a “real Christian” play the part of Jacob Chernov, hence the selection of Jacob Bonnema, a Christian like his father.[3]
My Thoughts
I saw most of this movie once years ago on television when my mom told me that there was a movie playing on a certain Christian television station, and maybe she was wondering what it was.
I possibly looked at the program guide and found out what it was.
Likewise, I had never heard of the movie before, and I ended up watching it expecting that it was not going to be good enough to keep watching.
So I expected that I would change the channel after a minute or two.
To my surprise it held my attention enough to keep watching it, I watched the rest of the movie, and I did not hate it to my surprise.
I kind of liked it considering what it was.
It was one of those what-if scenario-like movies with a high-stakes situation, my memory of it is very unclear, but it was better than I had expected compared to the usual low-budget Christian movie like this.
What I do remember is that it was better than the trailer, or I hope, unless my taste in movies was that bad back then.
The end,
- John Jr
John Jr's Blog 