Eye Candy #366 - "The Genius Club"

The Genius Club:  Seriously disappointing film made even more so by its heavy-handed, Christian themes, communicated by characters in stilted, ridiculous dialogue that doesn’t sound much like real human speech on essentially one set.  A group of genius IQ-level individuals are brought together in Washington DC by the federal government, to play a game with a terrorist who has placed a nuclear bomb “11 blocks from the White House”.  The “geniuses” are required to debate various topics from faith to war to politics, all while being awarded by points by Armand the terrorist (played by an incredibly hammy Tom Sizemore), who also heckles them the entire time in a highly annoying fashion.  All they really do is reveal just how petty and idiotic they are.  Amongst the geniuses we have an economist, a professional baseball player, the owner of a casino, and a pizza delivery guy (played by born again Steven Baldwin), most of which are fleshed out in just the broadest strokes possible.  A thriller with no thrills, low production values, and a message that overwhelms everything else in the picture, this SHOULD have been labeled “Faith and Spirtuality” in the genre listings.  I would have avoided it.  Woodchuck sez, “Skip it.”