VOD REVIEWS: Bridget Stokes' BOY GENIUS is a high school comedy-mystery as smart and surprising as its lead character

What would happen if Scooby-Doo obliquely discussed racial inequality? What do you think he would say? Which one of the Gang would feel shocked or comforted? Imagine sneaking a discussion like that into material for children and you get the success that is Bridget Stokes’ BOY GENIUS. The movie’s optimistic tone reflects more of a kid’s cartoon whodunit than a John Hughes high school movie and even though we’re sold a bit of both we wind up with something more. BOY GENIUS wears its heart on its sleeve but isn’t afraid to tread into more complicated territory offering the protagonist (and us as an audience) a unique world view both full of wonder and slightly jaded at the same time.

Miles Brown (Black-ish, Mixed-ish, and Drunk History) plays Emmett. This twelve-year-old child prodigy knows everything. Still, his extensive SAT vocabulary and debate trophies won’t get him the respect he craves from other high schoolers (specifically his crush.) When Emmett’s brother Luke, played by Skylan Brooks (from THE GET DOWN if anybody besides me loved that) takes the fall for several crimes around campus Miles sets out to find the real culprit. He enlists the aid of his SAT prep tutor Mary Locke (Rita Wilson). This unlikely duo winds their way through crazy dance instructors (Arden Myrin), neurotic science teachers (Ravi Patel), and menacing principals (Nora Dunn) to find the real culprit.

Being a menacing principal is a day at the beach for Nora Dunn

On paper the premise sounds more Nancy Drew than BRICK and that’s not wholly inaccurate. While the film carries a levity in tone it still stops to ask bigger questions. Emmet tells Ms. Locke on several occasions she has access to the “white world” on a level he will never have. Even though it’s oddly prescient for a twelve-year-old fluent in French, it still rings true the multiple times he poses it. The film never fully digests the question, instead leaving the audience to dwell on it afterwards. With its Disney TV show antics you might expect it to settle on a simple morality tale: “stealing is wrong” or “growing up takes time.” This movie asks for just a little more than that.

BOY GENIUS is a colorful film from top to bottom. Every character dresses like they just got out of a Target ad in bright greens, reds, blues. They’re all well dressed and stylish to a simplistic degree, and the image itself drips in color but that never really detracts from what this film does. The film’s cinematography proves inventive with whip pans and skillfully framed two shot conversations. The sound design adds multiple layers to the film so if you listen hard enough you discover little treats. Clearly everyone on this movie knew exactly what they were doing.

It’s possible that some could dismiss the film offhand. But that would be a mistake. Yes, it’s a Nancy Drew detective novel flirting with the deep end of racial injustice but what makes Stokes’ BOY GENIUS succeed where others wouldn’t is its emotional center. Miles Brown, Rita Wilson and team all string together a perfect balance of goofy and gravitas. I’m a grown adult and I almost cried during several of Skylan Brooks’ scenes. It knows where it’s center is and even after spiraling out into detective stories and moral injustices it finds a way back to its center: Emmet and his brother. In a near-textbook fashion it pays off every little arc from beginning to end and even takes time to humanize its antagonist in a last-ditch effort.

I recommend this film to audiences looking for ways to broach these complicated subjects to their children. It does contain drug and alcohol use, but if you’re a parent with a child asking bigger questions about systemic issues, this movie breaks it down to us in a childlike manner I appreciate. For that reason alone, I heartily approve of BOY GENIUS.