Whiz Kids

Deb 3 Me 4

The blurb for the movie says this: “Five young scientists from around the United States come of age in an increasingly science-hostile world; their curiosity and excitement for scientific exploration gives hope for America's future and shows how science can be used to answer life's most difficult questions.”

Well that sounded pretty interesting to me and I was excited about seeing the movie. Sitting in the theater with one other couple we were all disappointed to discover we were watching a DVD projected onto the screen. So it’s not a film at all. Parts of it look to have been shot on someone’s phone, other parts look nice, but the audio was often a train wreck.

Basically Intel has a talent contest for high school kid’s science projects. The winner gets a serious scholarship. Thousands of young people apply; they are whittled down to forty finalists and three winners are selected from that group. We meet three hopefuls and their teachers and families and follow them through their research and presentations that get them to the finals.

The good part is the kids and after the movie that’s about all the good we could find here, good kids trying hard and making their way as best they can. But the movie we saw only followed three kids, not five, and there wasn’t much evidence of a science hostile world, although the local Dupont plant didn’t appreciate one girl’s research. I’m not really sure what life's most difficult questions are but I don’t think they were addressed here. And I questioned the science. At one point a student mentioned getting a 6 volt battery out of their dad's car. What the hell kind of pre-war monstro does her daddy drive that doesn't use a 12 volt battery?

The film wasn’t really compelling, you weren’t rooting for one kid over the others, you were just watching, often struggling to understand what they said. Even though there were only three subjects, the footage could have been edited down quite a bit, there was too much confusion at times. Not a great movie, just so-so. But the kids that we meet are alright and you can’t help but wish there are a million more out there looking out for the future.