Comedy

Hair Brained

20131h 37m★ 5.4

ComedyDramaFantasy

14-year-old genius Eli is rejected from Harvard and ends up at Ivy League wannabe Whittman U, where he meets 41-year-old Leo, a gambler who has dropped out of life to enroll in college; Leo teaches Eli every bad habit he knows.

Cast

BK

Billy Kent

Director

Alex Wolff

Eli Pettifog

Parker Posey

Sheila Pettifog

Brendan Fraser

Leo Searly

Julia Garner

Shauna Holder

Michael Oberholtzer

Laird

Cast

BK

Billy Kent

Director

Alex Wolff

Eli Pettifog

Parker Posey

Sheila Pettifog

Brendan Fraser

Leo Searly

Julia Garner

Shauna Holder

Michael Oberholtzer

Laird

Elisabeth Hower

Eve Hansen

Josefina Scaglione

Camilla

Toby Huss

Whittman Moderator

Toby Huss

Brad the Announcer

Greta Lee

Gertrude Lee

Teddy Bergman

Alan Warren

Robin de Jesus

Romeo Torres

Curtis Gillen

Harvard One

A.J. Shively

Harvard Two

KD

Kevin-Alan Daniels

Harvard Three

Nilaja Sun

Skidmore Moderator

Kimiko Glenn

Perky Girl

Ash Christian

Cole

Spencer Leigh

MIT Moderator

AW

Adam Wierzbianski

Writer

SB

Sarah Bird

Writer

BK

Billy Kent

Writer

Trailer

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Comments

10 Comments

Emily StefanusJun 15, 2025

We loved HairBrained - it's got a real 80s teenage movie vibe meets college days with a hipster indie streak - it's silly, and cool, and just kooky enough to be off the beaten track without going AWOL. The plot of the 13 yr old genius (Alex Wolff) gets to go to college and his adventures is one to simply kickback to and enjoy. Brendan Frasier and he make good foils for each other and the film has plenty of nice touches. It subverts the sports / college genre nicely and all in all you could do a lot worse if you want a good sports comedy. One of my favorite films of the year so far - honestly? A fun and original movie - and we don't get to say that often enough these days....

Mawa TraoreMay 29, 2023

source: Hair Brained

Daniel TesfayeNov 22, 2022

Not another teenage comedy, with boy who whant to fit in and nobody understand him. Ely is not a typical nerd, who is bullied by football players and in love with the pretties girl on the campus. His best friend is 41 years old gambler and he have a grouppie, who want to have baby with him. So, if you want to watch something oryginal, and you're hair brained, watch that.

Faiiamfine OfficialNov 22, 2022

Eli (Alex Wolff) is a 13 year old boy genius who doesn't know the meaning of the word "haircut." He goes to Whitman University after being rejected from Harvard. While at Whitman he is befriended by 41 year old Leo (Brendan Fraser) and develops a love interest in a townie high school girl (Julia Garner). Eli has joined the college Mastermind club and competes in intercollegiate intellectual contests, with designs on getting revenge on Harvard. The film is designed for teens including formulaic cliche writing. There is the college bully and the older girl who wants his baby. At 50 minutes into the film it awkwardly introduces Leo's daughter. Parker Posey fans will be disappointed in her cameo role. Parental Guide: 1 f-bomb near the end. Male rear nudity. Brief photo nudity. teen grope scene.

samNov 22, 2022

Decent watch, probably won't watch again, and can't sincerely recommend. I like Brendan Fraser well enough and he nailed it in this support role, but Alex Wolff pretty much carries the movie, playing off of everyone else wonderfully. It is rare to have a collegiate coming of age story, but they managed to cover the idiosyncrasies of a young genius in a new world quite well. What really breaks me from the movie is the slew of crimes being committed against Eli as he is 13-14 years old. The other thing is that trivia isn't the most exciting thing, as exampled by the movie. They could have easily done an applied science competition that would have been a bit more compelling. While I don't regret watching this subtle, slice of life story, there just isn't much to say about it: just very little payoff.

AseelNov 22, 2022

This was very entertaining. The low marks from other reviewers are too picky. In a sea of remakes, reboots, prequels and sequels, this stands out as this generations Rushmore. As for laughs, the best one was when the kid hit his head in the match and an injury time out was called.

maaroufi_official1Nov 22, 2022

Overall the movie is fairly enjoyable but it has some turns that just feels very forced and contrived. And although the cast does a fine job there are some random character developments with some of the smaller roles that seem to happen instantly and completely out of the blue, for instance the popular girl who's personality literally changes from one scene to the next in one moment of the film. And other random odd ideas, which doesn't seem like they were meant to be funny but just poor script-writing and lack of knowledge of human interaction or potentially something made up on spot while filming. I won't go into too much details as I don't like to spoil movies but I'm sure if you watch it you'll figure out instances I could be referring to. Anyways besides that yeah it's fairly entertaining it's just not as good as it could have been. Oh and despite Brendan Fraser and Alex Wolff's tennis get-up on the poster I don't actually remember them playing tennis once in the movie (and I just watched it) so unless I dozed off a minute and they did that for 20 seconds then there's no tennis in this movie (and that seems unlikely).

Anjali AdhikariNov 22, 2022

Wow great movie, a prodigy that goes to high-school and meet a washed up guy who teaches him how to lay loose. Alex Wolff and Brenden Fraser does a really good job. They Chemistry is very good and believable. It's great to see the dilemmas of choosing your biggest dreams or your friends. But what are you with succeeding your biggest dreams when you have no one to share it with. But at the same time, he could go to Harvard, have a full ride and get greater education. Some would call it stupid, or brave. But whatever they didn't win in the end. And it's like the same in real life. People from Havard they will bend the rules to their will, and NOW let the lower people in their standard win. I can conclude it was great to see a Brendan Fraser with passion and that he take his live back in his hands. It was very funny to see Alex Wolff his character's mom at the end, funny situation. Must watch for good ethics.

Faiza CharmNov 22, 2022

After 1.5 hours, I laughed only 1.5 times (a slight smirk = 0.5). I love Brendan Fraser and nearly every one of his movies (both comedy and drama), but this was beyond doubt his worst movie, and just a bad movie overall. The acting was stilted, the screenplay was underdeveloped, with very poorly written dialogue. The concept has been done many times before (and never so poorly). I'm not exaggerating. The humor was not simply crass and juvenile, but, because the actors clearly appreciated this, they could not even deliver it well. Take my word for it, believe me, and avoid this film; Doubt me, and at least give my review a thumbs up - to warn others. And, for the record, I don't consider it comedy to have a 21-year-old woman, a senior in college, pursuing a 13-year-old child for sexual intercourse, to conceive genius progeny. My god, the boy is 13.

user3144235968484Nov 22, 2022

This - "I want to be a funny movie" - almost gets there, but falls short. It's got good script, plot, photography, settings, characters, but it stumbles along and I think the trouble is with the editing. The entire movie is choppy bits of story and few scenes flow well into the next. I'm at a loss to clearly express my feelings; just as this movie is at a loss to be really good. Wolff and Fraser make a good team but the experience of Fraser's background in acting make Wolff appear a bit amateurish (but that is understandable by his age) it just was another problem for me to like the end product. It's fun enough to rent.