Genius (TV 1999)

Charlie Boyle finds that even his high IQ can't solve all of his problems when he takes on a double life in order to make friends his own age.

Director:

Rod Daniel

Writers:

John Rieck (story), John Rieck (teleplay),

Stars:

Trevor Morgan, Emmy Rossum, Charles Fleischer

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Trevor Morgan	...	Charlie Boyle aka Chaz Anthony
Emmy Rossum	...	Claire Addison
Charles Fleischer	...	Dr. Krickstein
Yannick Bisson	...	Mike MacGregor
Peter Keleghan	...	Dean Wallace
Philip Granger	...	Coach Addison
Jonathan Whittaker	...	Dad Boyle
Patrick Thomas	...	Odie
Matthew Koller	...	Deion
Chuck Campbell	...	Hugo Peplo
Eli Ham	...	Omar Sullivan
Darryl Pring	...	Bear Berczinski
Sandi Ross	...	Teacher
Adam Blake	...	Street Hockey Kid #1
Michael Colton	...	Street Hockey Kid #2

Storyline

Charlie, science wiz, hockey lover, and all around genius, is tired of being friendless. It's bad enough that he's in college before he's 14 helping a scientist who's in the midst of trying to defy gravity. So, in order to make his life exactly how he wants it, Charlie reinvents himself by taking on the image of a slacker/bad boy and enrolls in the local Jr. high. But juggling two lives is tough, even for a genius.

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Plot Keywords:

hockey | one word title | disney channel original movie

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Genres:

Comedy | Family

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 August 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Savant en herbe

Company Credits

Production Co:

DiC Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Goofs

During the big game when the Rumbsin player went in the penalty box Charlie still had the microchip activated on his skate, going across the room even lifting his skate up on the desk, yet the Rumbsin players skate did nothing while in the box.

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Quotes

Charlie Boyle aka Chaz Anthony: I have to watch my sister.
Claire Addison: I thought you were an only child?
Charlie Boyle aka Chaz Anthony: I am. Sister... Mary Catherine... she's a nun... and an invalid.

User Reviews

A pathetic and insultingly childish fantasy set in reality

This film has been made dozens of times in other forms. This "Disney Original" idea is a complete laugh - if this is considered original, then I'm Abraham Lincoln. And I can't be Abraham Lincoln because I believe he is dead.

Trevor Morgan (you may remember him as the annoying kid from "Jurassic Park III") plays a complete nerd and mathematical genius who basically lives underneath a school ice hockey stadium. It is there that he constructs magical potions using science and math.

However he realizes he's not exactly catching any ladies, so he adopts the persona of "Chaz" (his real name is Charlie) to woo the ladies - enrolling in school again and becoming a "bad boy" who talks back to teachers and looks "cool." News flash: Kids stopped wearing Fonzie-style leather jackets to school in the 1960s. If anything, it's retro. It doesn't make you look cool. You don't gain instant respect by showing up at school with a leather jacket, a comb and a smirk and talking back to teachers. Today, in the age of gangsta rappas and emo, you would be laughed at and ridiculed. "Chaz" would become an instant outcast and his plan would backfire.

But in "Genius" all the kids are friendly white suburbanite offspring and they love The Chaz. They fall victim to his evil ploy to get some girly-action and even the bad boys at school respect him.

It would be kind of funny if it weren't so sad to actually think some Disney TV executive greenlit this and thought the concept of a 12-year-old high school graduate living in an underground lab who adapts a new persona of a leather-jacket wearing freak would be successful.