Konterr Brilliant and touching

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

gavin6942 Paul Stephens (Christopher Collet)'s high school science project has gotten a little out of hand. He just built an atomic bomb. Now he's got 11 hours to make sure it doesn't work.The plot was likely influenced by the case of John Aristotle Phillips, a Princeton University undergraduate, who came to prominence in 1977 as the "A-Bomb Kid" for designing a nuclear weapon in a term paper using publicly available books and articles.Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars and called it "a clever, funny and very skillful thriller ... that stays as close as possible to the everyday lives of convincing people, so that the movie's frightening aspects are convincing". He particularly took note of how "sophisticated" the film was about the relationship between Paul Stephens and John Matthewson, while praising Brickman's ability to "combines everyday personality conflicts with a funny, oddball style of seeing things, and wrap up the whole package into a tense and effective thriller. It's not often that one movie contains so many different kinds of pleasures." Although I am surprised that Ebert heaped such praise on this film, which seems to have been largely forgotten, I am glad that he did. The Cold War and nuclear war were common themes in the 1980s, whether the direct plot or only alluded to. And some films became huge (WarGames) and others have been forgotten. I suspect this one is largely forgotten because it lacks big name actors (with all due respect to John Lithgow). If it hasn't already been done, someone ought to get a special edition in the works...

Brian-Johnson-7 First: I was 12 when I watched this movie on the ol' VCR. If I were to rate this film based on what I know today (December 2012) then it's a bit (sarcasm) far-fetched albeit still a good story with good actors. Find Robert Sean Leonard nearly two decades before House, MD! But I digress... Think about the film in a mid-80s mindset. No Google, no wikipedia...just Encyclopedia Britannica and this thing they called a library way back in the day. The general public didn't have a clue about radioactive isotopes or computers in 1986 and the information wasn't at our fingertips like it is today. So let that go and enjoy the film. Summary: The quirky whiz kid who is seemingly a rube in areas outside of all things science and tech is sheldonesque in nature. John Lithgow plays a great lead proving early on why he's been nominated for two Oscars. The caper used to extract the plutonium is pure genius and fun! The film falls into three categories according to IMDb: Comedy, Sci-Fi, Thriller. It's a blend of all three...oh and "Comedy" is first because it's in alphabetical order, not because the film is foremost a comedy.For those people who are 35 and up this is a great film to sit down with the family and watch for good clean fun, a great story, a little US history (perspective only as we were in a nuclear arms race in the 80s), and inexpensive entertainment.Who cares if the green stuff would be deadly outside the lab, forget the reality and enjoy the film. It's a good one!

edwagreen Absurd film. This is exactly what you get when Hollywood tries to go scientific-in this case nuclear physics.A young lad, a prankster with a brain, together with his girlfriend steal plutonium from the lab. His mother has become friendly with scientist John Lithgow.With the nuclear material, our young lad has made a small bomb. The FBI and other federal agents are after our young hero. They point rifles to his chest.The best part of this ridiculous film was how the dynamic duo were able to pull off their caper.Then of course, we must have the deactivating of the bomb, and how that's done before the deadline and mom and the girlfriend rushing up to our hero at film's end. Let's go beyond this and pursue how this recalcitrant should have been tried for stealing this material and placing the northeast in such jeopardy.The film is a miserable one. It made me think of my miserable chemistry teacher and how she tortured me. The film tortured me as well.

moviemaster I was subjected to this utter nonsense at a friend's house. I won't go into why. At first I thought it "wasn't bad." But as the "plot" continued, I thought someone must have spiked the punch and I was high on LSD. This is one of the silliest movies ever made. There are so many stupid ideas one has to wonder if it was designed to make fun of movies as a whole. The "brilliant" kid wants to build a bomb to expose the lab for making plutonium? Hey, pick up the phone and make a call. He thinks that he can't get into any trouble because "I'm only a kid." Who told him that? For a bright boy, he doesn't seem like it. He breaks into the lab and steals plutonium... that ought to be worth 20 to life right there. He's Edward Teller in disguise and builds an A bomb with his Mattel Do it yourself kit. Yeah... sure. Best of all, he handles the plutonium with his mom's dish washing rubber gloves?!!! He'd be dead in no time. He takes his bomb to the big fair to show off? To show off what? That he's a complete nincompoop? Even the other nerds know better than that. If I hadn't been waiting for another friend in order to leave, I would have exited this complete nonsense as soon as he started playing cutesy with the plutonium strapped to the back of his toy car. This was really, really bad. 1 star for Lithgow desperately seeking a plot. 1 Star for Nixon trying ever so hard not to break out in uproarious laughter while Collet tries to explain why he wants to make a bomb.