Bad GeniusMovies like Bad Genius
- Key Features:
- Cheating, Social inequality, Moral dilemma, High school, Heist, Consequences, Class differences, Academic pressure, Ethical dilemmas, Friendship, Coming-of-age, Thriller elements
- Tone:
- suspense-driven, serious, gritty
- Target Audience:
- Young adults, Thriller fans, International cinema enthusiasts, Viewers interested in social commentary
- Emotional Arc:
- Opportunity → Risk → Betrayal
Bad Genius

A highly-gifted student sees an opportunity to escape her roots by helping wealthy classmates cheat on key exams, but at great risk to her future.
Bad Genius
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.

While other kids buy into countless hours of studying just so they can get a mark in some teacher's report book, Handsome Davis sees it as nothing more than a system of control over your mind. That's why Handsome and his three best friends Sammy, Victor and the cribsheet genius Applebee have banded together and found ways to cheat on their tests all through their school years.

When teenage geniuses Mitch Taylor and Chris Knight, working on an advanced laser project, learn that the military wants to use it as a weapon, they decide to thwart the plan.

Six high school seniors decide to break into the Princeton Testing Center so they can steal the answers to their upcoming SAT tests and all get perfect scores.

A superintendent of a school district works for the betterment of the student’s education when an embezzlement scheme is discovered, threatening to destroy everything.

A dethroned queen bee at a posh private high school strikes a secret deal with an unassuming new student to enact revenge on one another’s enemies.

A group of over-achieving Asian-American high school seniors enjoy a power trip when they dip into extra-curricular criminal activities.

Charlie Boyle finds that even his high IQ can't solve all of his problems when he takes on a double life in order to make friends his own age.

After the theft of copies of SAT exams from a principal's office, teenage reporter Bobby Funke sets out to unmask the thief. Bobby prints an article fingering Class President Paul Moore as the thief, shredding the youth's reputation. But as Bobby gets to know Paul's girlfriend, Francesca, he comes to realize he was wrong about Paul, so he sets out to unmask the true culprit.

In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic competition.

In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.

Liu Xing a brilliant Chinese student, arrives at University and makes the transition into American life with the help of Joanna Silver. Xing joins a cosmology group working to create a model of the origins of the universe. He is obsessed with the study of dark matter and a theory that conflicts with the group's model. When he begins to make breakthroughs of his own, he encounters obstructions.

A few days before the baccalaureate, a high school student decides to settle accounts with the most cowardly teacher in the school.

Duncan is a genius straight A student, Blade is juvenile delinquent. But because of a mix up with their school records, everyone thinks each is the other one. Now, Duncan kind of likes the attention from being thought of as a real bad dude, if only the school bully would stop trying to rough him up. And Blade definitely likes being thought of as important instead of as trouble.

While doing a friend a favor and searching for a runaway teenager, a police detective stumbles upon a bizarre band of criminals about to pull off a bank robbery.

For a class project, three college students decide to invent an unfounded rumor about the most popular girl on campus. But as the rumor spreads, it begins to spiral out of control.

A gifted high school student steals plutonium from the secret nuclear weapons facility in his home town in order to construct his own nuclear bomb, win a national science fair, and expose the government's secrets.

Ben Campbell is a young, highly intelligent student at M.I.T. who strives to succeed. Wanting a scholarship to transfer to Harvard School of Medicine to become a doctor, Ben learns that he cannot afford the $300,000 tuition as he comes from a poor, working-class background. But one evening, Ben is introduced by his unorthodox math professor to a small but secretive club of five students, Jill, Choi, Kianna, and Fisher, who are being trained by Professor Rosa to count cards at blackjack.

When photos of her at a party cause her to lose a scholarship, a student investigates whether something devastating happened to her that night.

When a high school senior discovers her teacher is seducing her boyfriend, events turn deadly after the teacher tries to cover it up.

Two high school filmmakers decide to create the illusion of a haunting on an unsuspecting neighbor.

"All men are not created equal. It is the purpose of the Government to make them so." This is the premise of the Showtime film adaption of Kurt Vonnegut's futuristic short story Harrison Bergeron. The film centers around a young man (Harrison) who is smarter than his peers, and is not affected by the usual "Handicapping" which is used to train all Americans so everyone is of equal intelligence.

Three teenage friends get in way over their head when they cross a down-home crime syndicate. They hope to make a break for it and escape their dead-end existence in a cotton-mill town but get sucked into the seedy underbelly of organized crime when one of them steals from the wrong man.

A widower suspects that his seemingly perfect adolescent daughter is a heartless killer.

An examination that goes beyond the celebrity-driven headlines and dives into the methods used by Rick Singer, the man at the center of the shocking 2019 college admissions scandal, to persuade his wealthy clients to cheat an educational system already designed to benefit the privileged.

College student Charlie Banks has to face old problems when the bully he had an unpleasant encounter with back in high school shows up on his campus.

A student's chances of getting into a good college hang in the balance when inappropriate photos of her are posted on the Internet.

High school student Paula Carson's affections are being sought after by two of her classmates: Dwight, the "bad boy", and Brian, a disturbed young man who has just been released from a mental hospital where he was committed following the suspicious death of his father. Soon after being released, more murders start happening. Is Brian back to his old tricks, or is Dwight just trying to eliminate the competition?

A high school valedictorian who gets baked with the local stoner finds himself the subject of a drug test. The situation causes him to concoct an ambitious plan to get his entire graduating class to face the same fate, and fail.

A student will do anything to become part of the "in-crowd" at the exclusive school she attends in New York.

A teacher reconnects with an old student who is now an attorney representing a family who is suing the school for graduating their son who still cannot read or write. Amid the daily chaos of teaching in an inner city school, Alex Jurel tries to decide if he will lie at his deposition to protect the school or tell the truth and risk throwing away his career.

Dave, Sam and Jeff are about to graduate from Holden University with honors in lying, cheating and scheming. The three roommates have proudly scammed their way through the last four years of college and now, during final exams, these big-men-on-campus are about to be busted by the most unlikely dude in school. Self-dubbed Cool Ethan, an ambitious nerd with a bad crush, enters their lives one day and everything begins to unravel.

Four brilliant university students are forced to confront themselves in terrifying ways when their Quantum Physics experiment leads to an entangled parallel existence that leaves them questioning who they are and what is real.

On a stormy Saturday afternoon, six students from Crestview Academy begin to meet horrible fates as they serve detention. Is a fellow student to blame, or perhaps Crestview's alleged ghosts are behind the terrible acts?

When students in their high school begin inexplicably exploding (literally), seniors Mara and Dylan struggle to survive in a world where each moment may be their last.

A naive college student loses a scholarship at the hands of a classmate and makes a pact with a mysterious friend to kill off each other's enemies.

Pierre Hoffman joins a prestigious school as a substitute teacher and soon notices, among some of his students, an unjustified hostility and a spark of violence in their eyes. Is it because the unspeakable tragedy they have just experienced? Is it because they seem to be extraordinarily gifted children? Is it because they have lost all hope for the future? From curiosity to obsession, Pierre will try to unlock their secret.

The outrageous life of Reagan Collins, a model high school student with a "killer" after-school job that involves arranging “accidents” for his classmates' parents. When seasoned police detective Cliff Dawkins starts putting the pieces together, it's a battle of wits to see if Reagan can keep business booming.

Film geek Josh is looking for the subject of his new documentary when a chance meeting puts the perfect star in his sights—Dylan, his school's most popular junior. But Dylan's hopes of using the film to become Blossom Queen don't quite match with Josh's goal to make a hard-hitting exposé about popularity. Will Josh shoot the film as planned, or show Dylan as the truly interesting person she is?

A lazy, incompetent middle school teacher who hates her job and her students is forced to return to her job to make enough money for a boob job after her rich fiancé dumps her.

A high school girl, Sayaka Kudō was the bottom of the class. After a year, she improved her deviation value from 30 to 70, then passed Keio University that is considered one of the most difficult to enter in Japan.

A troubled and bullied high school student fights against judgement from his community after threatening to bomb the football team.

Tessa Young is a dedicated student, dutiful daughter and loyal girlfriend to her high school sweetheart. Entering her first semester of college, Tessa's guarded world opens up when she meets Hardin Scott, a mysterious and brooding rebel who makes her question all she thought she knew about herself -- and what she wants out of life.

Malcolm is carefully surviving life in a tough neighborhood in Los Angeles while juggling college applications, academic interviews, and the SAT. A chance invitation to an underground party leads him into an adventure that could allow him to go from being a geek, to being dope, to ultimately being himself.

Hoping to leave his criminal lifestyle behind him, a successful art thief teams up with a sexy con woman to pull off the ultimate heist and set himself free.

Honor is an ambitious high school senior whose sole focus is getting into Harvard, assuming she can first score the coveted recommendation from her guidance counselor, Mr. Calvin. Willing to do whatever it takes, Honor concocts a Machiavellian-like plan to take down her top three student competitors, until things take a turn when she unexpectedly falls for her biggest competition, Michael.

Two roommates plan to kill a third to take advantage of college policy giving a 4.0 grade to a suicide's roommates.

After an anonymous hacker begins leaking the private data of thousands living in a small American town, the townspeople spiral into madness, with four high school seniors at the center of the maelstrom.

A computer programmer's dream job at a hot Portland-based firm turns nightmarish when he discovers his boss has a secret and ruthless means of dispatching anti-trust problems.

Expert thief Parker gets a shot at a major heist, but to pull it off he and his team must outsmart a South American dictator, the New York mob, and the world's richest man.

Several years after the murderous events of the first movie left her father dead, Emma is now living with her aunt Angela and navigating high school. Angela’s husband begins to suspect that Emma may not be as innocent as she appears and suggests sending her off to boarding school. Meanwhile, a new girl at school seems to know Emma’s secrets, leaving Emma no choice but to slip back to her old ways and take care of her enemies by any means necessary.

It's four years later, and a new group of students has been placed in Saturday detention at the infamous and prestigious Crestview Academy. When Siouxsie, sophomore 'undercrust,' crashes the party to avenge her sister's death, a Saturday detention reserved for the privileged seniors of Crestview Academy turns into a date in hell. It's not long before a naïve pussycat lover, gay drug dealer, smokin' hot preacher's daughter, squeaky-clean senator's son, and the uninvited younger outsider find themselves locked-up in school with no way out, wondering who (or what) has set them up. Hilarity and suspense ensue while each 'bad kid' pits one against the other, and one by one each falls victim to absurdly gruesome 'accidents' while trying to escape.

A young detective goes undercover at an elite private school to destroy an international stolen car ring.

Pete Bell, a college basketball coach is under a lot of pressure. His team isn't winning and he cannot attract new players. The stars of the future are secretly being paid by boosters. This practice is forbidden in the college game, but Pete is desperate and has pressures from all around.

Bad girl Amy is given one last chance by her adoptive parents, who think her friendship with local girl Chloe is a step in the right direction. But when Amy discovers that Chloe harbors a dark secret, she finds herself fighting for her life

A bank robber tries to turn himself in because he's falling in love and wants to live an honest life...but when he realizes the Feds are more corrupt than him, he must fight back to clear his name.

Kelly, Dan and Louis are students at a prestigious business school, destined to become tomorrow's elite. The industrious trio are determined to start putting their education into practise from the off in an attempt to make as much money as they can from their fellow students. Working on the theory that relationships between the sexes can be regulated by market principles, they begin to inflate the popularity of certain individuals artificially, by hiring beautiful and sexy off-campus women as their dates for exclusive and riotous college parties. However their perfect business model soon spirals out of control as their moneymaking scheme takes off in a big way across campus.

Tenacious homicide detective Cassie Mayweather and her still-green partner are working a murder case, attempting to profile two malevolently brilliant young men: cold, calculating killers whose dark secrets might explain their crimes.

High school senior Bobby Chrystal fails his French class, which will block him from entering Yale. His rich, authoritarian father hires an attractive 29-year-old to tutor Bobby over the summer and help him pass a make-up exam. While Bobby's friends lead him away into strange excursions aimed at losing their virginity, Bobby finds all the extracurricular activities he needs with his new tutor.

Two wealthy businessmen are about to get away with $5 million in ill-gotten money until their plans are revealed by an uninvited house guest.

Eight talented candidates have reached the final stage of selection to join the ranks of a mysterious and powerful corporation. Entering a windowless room, where an armed guard keeps watch, they are given 80 minutes to answer one simple question.

Best friends Sophie and Agatha navigate an enchanted school for young heroes and villains — and find themselves on opposing sides of the battle between good and evil.

A star athlete and top student, Luce's idealized image is challenged by one of his teachers when his unsettling views on political violence come to light, putting a strain on family bonds while igniting intense debates on race and identity.

Bernadinho and Pedro are students and face the classic tasks of fulfilling school obligations, taking good grades, being well behaved and complying with school rules, increasingly elaborated thanks to director Ademar. Frustrated, Pedro ends up finding a diary of how to cause chaos in school without being caught, which leads the two friends to follow the tips of the notebook.

At an international school in Jakarta, a philosophy teacher challenges his class of twenty graduating seniors to choose which ten of them would take shelter underground and reboot the human race in the event of a nuclear apocalypse.

Sam Maddox, a troubled girl whose father committed suicide, has earned a reputation at her high school for being a bit promiscuous. When Sam begins seeing brilliant, MIT-bound Henry Sinclair, the two opposites really attract. Although Sam doesn't realize it, Henry is in the grip of an insane romantic obsession, and he will kill anyone who tries to put an end to his star-crossed - and increasingly deadly - romance.

This documentary-drama hybrid explores the dangerous human impact of social networking, with tech experts sounding the alarm on their own creations.

A coming-of-age movie that tells a story unfolding in every high school around the country -- a story of kids hiding their true identities in plain sight, even as they feverishly pursue their hearts' desires.

Three teenagers, brought together from bullying, indulge in petty theft, sex and drugs. They inevitably realize they can resort to violence to take revenge on everyone who has humiliated them: students, teachers and other outcasts. One of them escalates to killing, and desires to kill again. Anyone can become his next victim. The other two face the question: should they resort to violence to stop the killings?

Inside the halls of an elite arts academy, a timid music student begins to outshine her more accomplished and outgoing twin sister when she discovers a mysterious notebook belonging to a recently deceased classmate.

According to a high school's lore, the "Dirty Deeds" are a daunting list of dares almost no student has ever completed. To win the student body's respect and get noticed by his crush, senior Zach is determined to finish the list in the allotted 24-hour time period. As the school's bullying jocks try to thwart him at every turn, Zach embarks on a wild journey, highlighted by beer swilling, grand theft auto and the snagging of an ex-homecoming queen's bra.

A thief makes a disturbing discovery in the house where he breaks in. Later, when he returns to the same house with his partner in crime, things are no longer how he expected.

A Harvard professor is lured back into the courtroom after twenty-five years to take the case of a young black man condemned to death for the horrific murder of a child.

Medical student Ted Grey graduates at the top of his class and quickly joins an elite pathology program, whose top students invite him into their circle. There he uncovers a gruesome secret: They play a game in which one tries to commit the perfect, undetectable murder, then the others compete to determine the victim's cause of death.

An experiment on a simpleton turns him into a genius. When he discovers what has been done to him he struggles with whether or not what was done to him was right.

The incredibly spoiled and overprivileged students of Camden College are a backdrop for an unusual love triangle between a drug dealer, a virgin and a bisexual classmate.

Neto is a middle class teenager living a normal life. After his father finds a marijuana cigarette on his pocket, he is sent to a mental institution, where he gets to know a completely absurd and inhumane reality in which people are devoured by a corrupt and cruel system.

A college dropout gets a job as a broker for a suburban investment firm and is on the fast track to success—but the job might not be as legitimate as it sounds.

When a school girl disappears, suicide is suspected, and one of her classmates is suspected of having goaded her into it.

A straight-edged teacher finds trouble when an honors student is willing to do anything to get an A.

It's prom season, and high school senior Mandy and her best friend and fellow outsider Ben are surrounded by over-the-top "promposals." Mandy is only focused on getting into her dream school Harvard, but as she starts tutoring basketball all-star Graham, she must re-evaluate whether her dream school is worth the cost of everything she believes in.

Senior investment banker Naomi Bishop’s world of high-power big money is brutal and fierce, and one she thrives in. When a controversial IPO threatens the fragile balance of power and confidentiality, Naomi finds herself entangled in a web of politics and deception.

After one of his class papers is stolen and turned into a movie, a young student and his best friend exact a hilarious, slapstick revenge on the Hollywood hot shot who has taken credit!

14-year-old basketball phenom Terron Forte has to navigate the under-the-table world of amateur athletics when he is recruited to an elite NCAA prep school.

A world-class hitman ends up swapping identities with a down-to-luck extra actor during an accident.

High school student David Lightman has a talent for hacking. But while trying to hack into a computer system to play unreleased video games, he unwittingly taps into the Department of Defense's war computer and initiates a confrontation of global proportions. Together with his friend and a wizardly computer genius, David must race against time to outwit his opponent and prevent a nuclear Armageddon.

Teenagers, in their last year of High School, steel the subjects of the Baccalaureate from the education exam division in order to succeed at the exam.

Alfonso, pursues the girl of his life to Harvard, determined to conquer her under the same friends and outlandish plans that his brother used in Oxford. But when you least expect it appears Martha, the girl he fell in love while at school.

A thief with a unique code of professional ethics is double-crossed by his crew and left for dead. Assuming a new disguise and forming an unlikely alliance with a woman on the inside, he looks to hijack the score of the crew's latest heist.

African-American student Malik is on a track scholarship; academics are not his strong suit, and he goes in thinking that his athletic abilities will earn him a free ride through college. Fudge, a "professional student" who has been at Columbus for six years so far, becomes friendly with Malik and challenges his views about race and politics in America.

Air Force Colonel Kenneth Penmark and his wife, Christine, adore their daughter Rhoda, despite her secret tendency for selfishness. Christine keeps her knowledge of her daughter's darker side to herself, but when a schoolmate of Rhoda's dies mysteriously, her self-deception unravels.

Jessica Darling – a smart, witty, opinionated girl heading into 7th grade – was never too concerned about where she'd fit in the middle school hierarchy. But before her first day of school, her older sister — the super popular Bethany, now in college—decides to help out by giving her the “It List”—a cheat sheet on how to navigate the middle school maze and rise to the top of the popularity chain. The instructions appear simple enough to follow, but, like life, nothing is as easy as it seems.

Hyakkaou Private Academy. An institution for the privileged with a very peculiar curriculum. You see, when you're the sons and daughters of the wealthiest of the wealthy, it's not athletic prowess or book smarts that keep you ahead. It's reading your opponent, the art of the deal. What better way to hone those skills than with a rigorous curriculum of gambling? At Hyakkaou Private Academy, the winners live like kings, and the losers are put through the wringer. But when Yumeko Jabami enrols, she's gonna teach these kids what a high roller really looks like!

Light Yagami finds the "Death Note," a notebook with the power to kill, and decides to create a Utopia by killing the world's criminals, and soon the world's greatest detective, "L," is hired to find the mysterious murderer. An all out battle between the two greatest minds on earth begins and the winner will control the world.

A group of friends vow to open their college acceptance letters at the same time during the big end-of -year party.

When a crisis threatens to destroy their high school, four teens hatch a daring plan to raise $10 million. Step one? Breaking into the U.S. Mint.

When Alena arrives at her new elite boarding school, Filippa and the other girls start to harass her. But Alena’s best friend Josefin won’t let her take anymore beating. If she won’t strike back, Josefin will do it for her. Hard.


