Christopher Collet, Cynthia Nixon, Jill Eikenberry, John Lithgow, John Mahoney ...( see more  see more... ) , Robert Sean Leonard

Directed and cowritten by Woody Allen collaborator Marshall Brickman, this comedy-thriller doesn't seem to know where it wants to go or what it wants to say (other than, obviously, nuclear weapons are...( read more  read more... ) scary things). Christopher Collet plays an overachieving high school student who decides to show just how dangerously easy it is to construct a nuclear device. He builds one for his science fair, using his mother's relationship with a government official (John Lithgow) to sneak into a secret facility and steal plutonium. When the feds find out what's going on, they overreact in a brutish showdown that threatens nuclear annihilation of everyone within a 10-mile radius. While the movie makes some antinuke points and features a strong performance by Lithgow, it seems a little too breezy, given what's going on. --Marshall Fine

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47% liked it

4,520 ratings

PG-13, 112 min.

Directed by: Marshall Brickman

Release Date: June 13, 1986

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DVD Release Date: June 4, 2002

Stats: 113 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (113)


  • November 5, 2007
    This was an interesting find...A gifted high school student who decides to construct a nuclear bomb for a national science fair... I loved the character of Paul...this seemingly to smart for his own good kinda kid with a plesant disposition and a underlying cynical attitude...he ...( read more)goes brave throughout the whole movie...2 thumbs up...
  • September 30, 2008
    A sort of cousing to "WarGames", this movie stars John Lithgow as a nuclear scientist who has developed the most pure form of plutonium known to man. The government sets him up in a laboratory in Ithaca, NY where he begins to date a local realtor played by Jill Eikenberry. Chisto...( read more)pher Collet plays her son, the science genius of the local high school. When he discovers what Lithgow is doing at the local factory, he devises a plan to steal a sample of the plutonium, and build a home made nuclear bomb...so he can with the science fair. With the help of his girlfriend, "Sex And The City"s Cynthia Nixon, he develops a scheme that's about as plausible as Matthew Broderick hacking into the nation's defense computer and starting World War III. What the movie has over WarGames is a real sense of tension. In WarGames, the military and government agents all seemed like rednecks and doofuses. They never really posed a credible threat. Here, the goverment is no nonsense, and you are shown that they are more than willing to kill this kid, who they see as a terrorist threat. Once the bomb is built, it's a cat and mouse game as the kid tries to avoid the government, while not realizing the danger he is in. He's convinced the government can't do anything to him because he's underage. When the device is accidentally activated, he finds out REAL fast how wrong he is. For the most part, the acting is strong and believable. Lithgow is one of the most versatile actors going, and he's great here. Collet is an actor who we never heard much from after this, but he's totally convincing as the science geek, filled with the self righteousness that only teenagers can posess. Nixon's performance may be fine, but her character is annoying. She's a hardheaded know it all with a big chip on her shoulder. At one point she even tells of government agents by defiantly stating that "I KNOW MY RIGHTS!!". Her character is the only weak spot in an otherwise outstanding 80's Cold War thriller.
  • April 24, 2008
    Good film, well written and a cracking story.
  • December 11, 2009
    peace_1oneil@yahoo.com
    Hello!!!
    My name is sandral,i saw your profile today at (www.flixster.com) site and became intrested in you,i will also like to know you the more,and i want you to send an email to my email address so i can give you my picture for you to know whom i am.Her...( read more)e is my email address (
    peace_1oneil@yahoo.com) believe we can move from here!I am waiting for your mail to my email address above.(Remeber the distance, colour or language does not matter but love matters alot in life.
  • November 26, 2009
    "A Cult Classic", in the same way as "Office Space, Hackers,Idiocracy,Raw Deal", and many others."

    A pretty msart and gripping thriller, but some scenes were pretty inadequate, or insufficent, and with that said, It is just a "Three Star Film", unlike i thought in the begginin...( read more)g of giving it more."
  • October 2, 2009
    I want to see this movie!
  • June 10, 2009
    Contemporary comedy-adventure-thriller concerns a high-school youth who, with the aid of his idealistic girlfriend, steals some plutonium and makes his own nuclear bomb. There's a pleasing balance of humour and suspense.
  • May 18, 2009
    A poorly made WarGames type movie, but with an atomic bomb made by a kid.
  • January 30, 2009
    Well, at least I finished.
  • January 21, 2009
    The U.S. government provides Dr. John Mathewson (John Lithgow) a laboratory called Medatomics is a medical company located near a suburban neighborhood in Ithaca, New York to meet a real estate agent Elizabeth Stephens (Jill Eikenberry) to seek an apartment.

    Dr. John Mathewson i...( read more)nvited Elizabeth Stephens' teenager son Paul Stephen (Christopher Collet) gifted student with a passion for science for the New York Science Fair to take a tour: Medatomics to embrace Paul as a hero to his an aspiring journalist girlfriend, Jenny Anderman (Cynthia Nixon).

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