One night, seven people, the world's burdens on their shoulders
Niketa Reed
Issue date: 1/18/08 Section: Life & Style
Is it a thriller, an intellectual gab fest or a Christian themed movie? This film might be all three. ??
Seven brilliant minds, a madman and a hostage city make up the ultimate mind game in "The Genius Club." When a nuclear bomb is planted in Washington, D.C., the president is forced into a deadly quiz bowl. He has to enlist a group of people with IQs over 200 to solve the world's problems. Win, lose or draw-over half a million lives are at stake, according to the film's Web site, www.TheGeniusClubMovie.com.
The seven geniuses find themselves ushered into a bomb shelter on Christmas Eve under the video surveillance of Armand, the terrorist threatening to detonate a bomb in the capital city. The group has one night to find answers to puzzling world problems, such as world hunger, war, cancer, rush hour traffic, and, ultimately, the meaning of life, according to the Web site.
The characters are as diverse in opinion as their varied occupations. Boxed into a dusty boardroom, beliefs and biases clash in a group comprised of a professor, a casino owner, a scientist, a painter, a seminary student, a pro baseball player, and a pizza delivery guy. The president and his bodyguard accompany them, as Armand feeds them questions and tracks their scores from a television monitor, according to the film's press release.
??The film, which features performances from Stephen Baldwin, Tom Sizemore, Paula Jai Parker, and Jack Scalia, seeks to push the envelope on controversial issues within religion, capitalism and politics. Director and screenplay writer Tim Chey uses the club as a way to introduce the debate of Godës existence, according to the press release.
??Baldwin came on board after internalizing the script. In an interview with Southern Vanity: Dallas Lifestyle Magazine included in the press release, the born-again Christian said the script had a purpose and meaning to it, which many others coming from Hollywood lacked.
"It wasn't just about the topic - the God part of it - that a lot of movies don't even mention," Baldwin said in Southern Vanity. "It was about viewing the different sides of issues like oil and gas, capitalism, communism. Those are issues most people aren't talking about in movies right now."??
Chey is very familiar with Christian-themed movies. His past films include "Fakin' Da Funk," "Gone," and "Impact: The Passion of the Christ." "Impact" was a documentary released in theaters December 2004 as an in-depth look at the impact "The Passion of the Christ" made on people around the world, according to the press release. ?
?"Gone," deemed one of the best-selling Christian movies, is a thriller that follows three corporate lawyers traveling to Manila, Philippines, to defend their corporation accused of spilling hazardous waste in the Pasig River. Stranded in the Philippines, they find themselves living out the prophecies in the Rapture, according to the press release. ??
"The Genius Club" opens today in theaters at the Fiesta Square 16 in Fayetteville and at the Market Street Cinema in Little Rock.
Seven brilliant minds, a madman and a hostage city make up the ultimate mind game in "The Genius Club." When a nuclear bomb is planted in Washington, D.C., the president is forced into a deadly quiz bowl. He has to enlist a group of people with IQs over 200 to solve the world's problems. Win, lose or draw-over half a million lives are at stake, according to the film's Web site, www.TheGeniusClubMovie.com.
The seven geniuses find themselves ushered into a bomb shelter on Christmas Eve under the video surveillance of Armand, the terrorist threatening to detonate a bomb in the capital city. The group has one night to find answers to puzzling world problems, such as world hunger, war, cancer, rush hour traffic, and, ultimately, the meaning of life, according to the Web site.
The characters are as diverse in opinion as their varied occupations. Boxed into a dusty boardroom, beliefs and biases clash in a group comprised of a professor, a casino owner, a scientist, a painter, a seminary student, a pro baseball player, and a pizza delivery guy. The president and his bodyguard accompany them, as Armand feeds them questions and tracks their scores from a television monitor, according to the film's press release.
??The film, which features performances from Stephen Baldwin, Tom Sizemore, Paula Jai Parker, and Jack Scalia, seeks to push the envelope on controversial issues within religion, capitalism and politics. Director and screenplay writer Tim Chey uses the club as a way to introduce the debate of Godës existence, according to the press release.
??Baldwin came on board after internalizing the script. In an interview with Southern Vanity: Dallas Lifestyle Magazine included in the press release, the born-again Christian said the script had a purpose and meaning to it, which many others coming from Hollywood lacked.
"It wasn't just about the topic - the God part of it - that a lot of movies don't even mention," Baldwin said in Southern Vanity. "It was about viewing the different sides of issues like oil and gas, capitalism, communism. Those are issues most people aren't talking about in movies right now."??
Chey is very familiar with Christian-themed movies. His past films include "Fakin' Da Funk," "Gone," and "Impact: The Passion of the Christ." "Impact" was a documentary released in theaters December 2004 as an in-depth look at the impact "The Passion of the Christ" made on people around the world, according to the press release. ?
?"Gone," deemed one of the best-selling Christian movies, is a thriller that follows three corporate lawyers traveling to Manila, Philippines, to defend their corporation accused of spilling hazardous waste in the Pasig River. Stranded in the Philippines, they find themselves living out the prophecies in the Rapture, according to the press release. ??
"The Genius Club" opens today in theaters at the Fiesta Square 16 in Fayetteville and at the Market Street Cinema in Little Rock.
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