Our take
It looks like something you’ve already seen before: a student genius turns a simple high school cheating scheme into a full-blown, high-stakes heist. But layered with great acting, taut writing, and sharp observations about the ways in which education (and society in general) fails its students, Bad Genius turns a familiar premise into something genuinely exciting and impressively affecting. It’s everything you want a caper movie to be: smart and thrilling, with almost no moment to breathe, and of course, peppered with characters you can’t help but root and be nervous and excited for.
The story
Lynn, a brilliant student, after helping her friends to get the grades they need, develops the idea of starting a much bigger exam-cheating business.
Elsewhere
"It's as if Aaron Sorkin wrote a caper flick set in high school, and it's as much clever fun as that sounds."
— Brian Tallerico
"Offers subtle yet stinging insight into Thailand's class inequalities and corrupt school system."
— Maggie Lee
Who picked it
Renee Cuisia is the lead curator at A Good Movie to Watch. In her spare time, she likes to watch K-dramas and analyze them to death. She's also seen You've Got Mail one too many times but is still convinced it's one of the greatest films out there.
Timepass