"Boy Genius" is a mess. Everything from the cobbled-together script to the indecision as to what direction to use in presenting the film is a blunder as big as drinking a New Coke while driving an Edsel.
The choppy story by Vicky Wight ("The Volunteer") focuses on super brain Emmett (Miles Brown), who is either a popular student at Heart High School or the kind of overaccomplishing nerd that most of the student body dislikes. The viewpoint changes as needed by the script.
What remains consistent is Emmett is a 12-year-old genius. Wight finds a way to drift between the youngster's brilliance in school to his lack of vision when dealing with people. It's the only part of the production that resonates with a dab of reality.
It is up to the boy genius to come to the rescue of his brother Luke (Skylan Brooks), who has been accused of being involved in thefts at school. Emmett knows only discovering the truth will keep his brother (and best friend) from being shipped off to a boarding school.
This is where Wight went wrong.
Wight sets up Emmett as having Walter Mitty-type daydreams that come and go in his life. It would have been smart to have Emmett keep slipping into the fantasy worlds as he tries to solve the crime. Once those doors are open, there can be a flood of wild and wonderful scenarios. Instead Wight slams the door on the fantasy moments to open up an unbelievable storyline between Emmett and Mary (Rita Wilson), Emmett's 60-something SAT tutor.
As lucky would have it, Mary is also a crime novelist. She and Emmett begin spending long hours together (without Emmett's mom ever showing any signs of concern) as they proceed to ferret out clues the local police are far too inept to see. The investigation includes a hip-hop performance by Wilson that's usually only done when a person is totally drunk or playing off a horrific blackmail demand.
It's a pity Wilson had to end up in such a situation. The script is so thin on material, the answer became filling voids with inane moments.
More of Emmett would have been far better than the script and director Bridget Stokes' ("Herman & Shelly") final vision. Brown continues to display the likability that has made his role on 'black-ish" fun to watch. A more concentrated effort to play up being a boy genius who often has fanciful daydreams is the part of "Boy Genius" that had the elements to make for a more entertaining effort.
"Boy Genius" has all the elements that make for the kind of kid-friendly programming found on cable TV channels such as Nickelodeon or Disney Channel. The adults are over-the-top stereotypes (with a particular nod to Arden Myrin) who are either vastly stupid, totally unaware or melodramatically evil. That there are plenty of TV shows higher in quality available for free makes it a no-brainer that "Boy Genius" has big problems.
