for all it's keen-but-shallow witty one-liners and teen comedy silliness (i.e. the hot braniac throws a sexy de-stressing "beach" party and invites a bunch of correctly-bodied and intellectually deficient "beauticians" from the cosmetology school up the road. plenty of offensive insinuations to go around), this movie packed a substantive bundle of ethics and life lessons. there's the triplet of past, present, and future "top-dogs", a kind of diagram of what can happen to a smart kid who doesn't balance- work with fun, break-through successes in the lab with a philosophically sound conscience, nurturing his abilities with challenging himself to work on or accept his weaknesses. i was especially impressed by the message (which Mitch gets from Chris, then subsequently has to reflect back to his mentor when Chris' sealed future comes undone) that above bragging rights, above grades, above salaries, above rivalries, it is the work we do that really matters (along with the our relationships with and responsibilities to the people who share in our endeavors). and, as everyone comes to find out the hard way, worthwhile work deserves to be thought- and felt- through. all the raw intelligence in the world is valueless, even harmful, without the moderation of the human soul. awwwwwww.
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