A high school thriller that follows Lynn (Callina Liang), a standout high school student, who devises a systematic plan of cheating on exams to bring justice to a rigged system.
Directed by J. C. Lee and co-written by Julius Onah, Bad Genius is a remake of the 2017 Thai film of the same name. A movie that takes the heist framework into the school setting. The original movie was inspired by real events involving a S. A. T. Cheating scandal. A film interested in social commentary about wealth inequality and how success is easier for some few while for most people it is a difficult and long path. Something succinctly put by its protagonist when she was talking about the S. A. T.: "It's a scam, engineered by people with money and sold to other people with money to protect their status." Mei Ling creates a system to outsmart the rigged game, as they think of it, and help not only her schoolmates but also herself and her struggling father.
Bad Genius is engaging from the start, never loses its momentum and it is full of scenes where tension is present keeping you at the edge of your seat. A movie about a reality that easily interpellates most people. A reality that uncovers a truth sometimes best left unsaid, not because it is unknown, but because sometimes forgetting is easier, that people are just a means to an end and relationships are nothing but transactions. Everything is a transaction and everything has a price, even if they hide the price tag.
