Plot

At Medfield College, an accident with a donated computer gives Dexter Riley the ability to remember any knowledge learned instantly and perfectly.

Some college students manage to persuade the town's big businessman, A. J. Arno, to donate a computer to their college. When the problem- student, Dexter Riley, tries to fix the computer, he gets an electric shock and his brain turns to a computer; now he remembers everything he reads. Unfortunately, he also remembers information which was in the computer's memory, like the illegal business Arno is involved in.—Krister Walfridsson <cato@df.lth.se>

The movie opens with a board meeting for Medfield College where Dean Higgins is denying a request from Professor Quigley for a new computer that Professor Quigley argues is needed to make the school academically competitive. Dean Higgins also recites a list of students that are to be placed on academic probation since they aren't currently meeting Medfield's standards. A collection of students are eavesdropping on the meeting using a planted walkie-talkie. Dexter Riley, one of the students, comes up with a plan to ask wealthy local businessman A.J. Arno, his former employer, if he will donate the money for a computer. A delegation of students goes to Mr Arno to make the request & although he initially declines he later has a change of heart. After the students leave we see Mr Arno go into a secret office where we see several of his employees using a computer to keep track of Mr Arno's collections from his numerous illegal gambling operations. He tells one of his employees not to send a check to Medfield College but doesn't say why not but the next scene reveals it's because he donated his computer to the school instead. On the day the donated computer is being installed Dean Higgins receives a letter from Mr Arno stating he is donating the computer in lieu of his normal $20,000 annual donation, which vexes the dean since he counted on the cash for other purchases. Dexter unknowingly brags to Dean Higgins that he was responsible for Mr Arno's computer donation which annoys the dean. After the computer is installed, Professor Quigley demonstrates the utility of the computer to his class. When the computer has a malfunction the professor determines it needs a new electronic part which Dexter volunteers to get. Later that night when he returns with the part & attempts to install it during a rain storm, Dexter receives a great shock as he handles wires from the computer while standing in water. He walks away unharmed but the next day it's discovered the computer isn't working. Later that same night one of Dexter's roommates hears Dexter talking in a robotic voice & beeping in his sleep. Later that day the students are all taking a timed test & Dexter finishes the 90 minute exam, which no one has ever finished, in 5 minutes & made a perfect score. Dexter is then examined by a doctor so the dean & the professor are shown that the inside of Dexter's head now looks like computer parts. In an effort to cash in on Dexter's newfound abilities Dean Higgins arranges a televised interview during which Dexter correctly answers questions from experts in several different academic fields. Dexter's success leads to a national tour where he's given a ticker-tape parade & then he demonstrates his intellectual prowess to UN delegates by learning multiple languages very quickly. He also unsuccessfully attempts to help a diamond cutting expert correct his miscalculation before cutting the world's largest diamond. The diamond shatters when he attempts the cut, ostensibly because he rejected Dexter's advice. Interspersed with these scenes of Dexter's tour we learn of a plan by Dean Collingsgood from rival State University to convince Dexter to leave Medfield & enroll at State. Mr Arno also decides he wants to put Dexter's abilities to use in his gambling operation & arranges to pick him up when he returns from his tour. Dexter is met at the airport by his friends who are happy he's home & want him to come hang out with them. Dexter rejects going with his friends to meet with Mr Arno, who takes him to the track. Dexter picks winners for every race that day. Later that evening Mr Arno's right hand man Chili Walski takes Dexter to dinner at one of the gambling operations, where Dexter is followed by both Dean Higgins & Dean Collingsgood. The police raid the gambling house & everyone, including Dexter, Chili & both deans, ends up in jail. While talking with Chili & listening to the deans argue with each other in jail, Dexter realizes that everyone he's been in contact with lately has their own best interests in mind. The guard comes to get Dexter & he & Chili both assume it's Mr Arno bailing him out. As Dexter gets to the desk he sees it's his college buddies who have spent every dollar they have to post bail. He apologizes to them all for not recognizing the true value of his friends & they readily accept his apology. Dexter decides to re-enroll at Medfield & promptly start studying for an intercollegiate academic contest which has a grand prize of $100,000. Instead of using other egghead students as teammates as suggested by Dean Higgins Dexter opts to include his buddies, all of whom were on the academic probation list earlier. Although Dexter tries to enlist his friends help during the contests, his buddies seem to lack the ability to help him even a little so Dexter singlehandedly begins winning contest after contest. During the semi-final round one of the answers makes Dexter go into a trancelike state & start reciting locations & financial returns for several of Mr Arno's operations until his buddy jars his elbow & makes him come to himself. Dexter doesn't even remember what he said during his trance. Mr Arno is watching the academic contest & gets upset when he realizes that Dexter could potentially spill the beans on all of his operations since it was all stored in the donated computer. He tells Chili to kidnap Dexter until they decide what to do about it. Chili snatches Dexter the night before the academic contest final where Medfield will be facing arch-rival State University. When Dexter's friends realize he's disappeared they listen to a recording of Dexter's trance sequence until they realize that it was all about Mr Arno's gambling operations. Knowing that Arno is probably at the bottom of Dexter's disappearance, they watch his business then follow Chili from there to where Dexter's being kept. They also send the recording to the police with an explanation of what they think it's all about. Mr Arno's men have kept Dexter busy picking horse races but when Chili arrives & tells them the plan involves killing Dexter, Dexter overhears but can't get away. On the day of the contest Dean Higgins has no choice but to let Dexter's buddies represent Medfield without Dexter since no one can locate him. Meanwhile that same day Dexter's college buddies have surrounded the house disguised as house painters. They have a phony work order but when Chili calls to verify it one of the friends who's in on the plan answers the phone like the local paint store. The friends/painters are trying to locate Dexter as they paint all around the house by looking in every window, meanwhile the crooks are trying to decide how to get Dexter out without the painters seeing him. Mr Arno arrives & get angry at the painters surrounding the house. Chili insists the painters are legit but when Mr Arno calls a different student answers the phone & gives goofball answers to Mr Arno's questions. Mr Arno tells Chili to stuff Dexter into an old steamer trunk & carry him out in that. When Mr Arno arrives the friends decide to sneak into the house to try to discover his location. They are in just the right spot to waylay the crooks & get the trunk away from them but in the process the trunk with Dexter inside gets bounced several times out a window, down a scaffold & eventually onto the ground. While Dexter was being rescued some of the students poured paint into the gangster's cars gas tanks. The students put the trunk onto their paint truck, pile on themselves then flee just as the crooks come out of the house. After realizing their cars are no good, the gangsters pile into the students' dune buggy & pursue them. The students are unsuccessful at opening the trunk as they race down the road but do manage to get away from the crooks by throwing everything in the back of the paint truck at the dune buggy & eventually by using the paint sprayer to cause them to wreck. They manage to unlock the trunk just as they arrive at the site of the contest during halftime. When he comes out of the trunk Dexter is physically cramped up & complains that his head hurts from being bounced around but Dean Higgins is unsympathetic & insists that he be carried to the stage before the second half starts. As the questions begin Dexter seems uncharacteristically slow with his answers but he is still correct every time. Although Dexter continues to speak slower with each answer & eventually starts stuttering during his responses, Medfield slowly catches up to State & takes the lead. With 1 minute left State takes the lead back when Dexter collapses in the middle of an answer, allowing State to steal the points. Medfield is given one final question with a chance to win but Dexter realizes he's lost his genius abilities. Dexter's buddy Schuyler starts trying to coax the answer out of him, similar to the way Dexter had encouraged him earlier in the contests, giving him clues & saying "Come on, buddy, you know this" when suddenly he realizes he knows the answer himself. He manages to get the answer out just as time is expiring so Medfield wins the grand prize. While all of this was taking place the police managed to confirm the information from Dexter's trance tape is related to Mr Arno's illegal gambling operations. The crooks arrive as the contest ends so Dexter & a friend race away in the paint truck. Mr Arno & the crooks give pursuit but because of the paint on the windshield they crash into the police car that is arriving to arrest him. The final scene is again the boardroom where Dean Higgins is denying Professor Quigley's request for an electro-helio-spectrograph, expensive lab equipment necessary to keep the school up-to-date, this time so the dean can pay for new plumbing. The students are eavesdropping again & disappointed that their efforts won't be rewarded with new lab equipment. As the meeting of students breaks up, Dexter's girlfriend tells him that if they ever do get a new electro-helio-spectrograph, he shouldn't fool around with it.