Wiz Kid

Beau and Bobby Bodine are graduating from Plains (GA) High. Beau is co-valedictorian... Bobby was a record setting wide receiver. Beau is 11 years old. Bobby’s 18. They live on a small farm outside of Plains with their mother Rose, who is wheelchair-bound, and Roy Bodine, a cruel, lazy man who tolerates his family and has a lover on the side. It is Bobby’s goal to get Beau off the farm into a “real” college where he can “shine”, escape from Roy and confront his fears. Beau’s goal is to see that Bobby goes to college too. With Beau’s genius, many institutions of higher learning call... but Penn State is chosen because it’s description begins with the words “Chartered by the Pennsylvania legislature as the Farmer’s High School in 1855...” A real farm boy at heart, that’s all Beau needed to hear. Unbeknownst to Roy, Bobby secrets Beau out of the house before dawn one morning and together they drive North in the family pick-up. Naturally, Penn State is no small farm school and Beau is overwhelmed upon arrival. He and Bobby meet his roommate/ guardian Wu-Yu Chang, a very westernized, Tai-Chi-practicing student who helps ease Beau into this big, brand new experience. From the local “in” eatery, where he first spots the beautiful, black waitress Margo, to the school bookstore, Beau takes soaks it all up, in awe. Meanwhile, Bobby arrives back home in Georgia, only to meet Roy’s abusive wrath. It isn’t long before Beau does begin to shine in the classroom and in so-doing makes his first enemy, golf-teaming, good-looking, no-braining Jeff Abbott, who threatens Beau in a hallway encounter. Enter Nathan Means, a hulking, black Nittany Lion linebacker, who comes to Beau’s defense, because he’s “... got a baby brother back home just about (Beau’s) size.” Beau is also invited to join a new club for guys with IQ’s over 150, the Corpus Collosum. The “group” is headed by mental giant and social midget Henry Smythe, who’s dying to represent the CC in the school’s “Big Man On Campus” contest, but Beau is tapped, instead, even though he doesn’t have a clue. Who does have a clue, though, is Nathan Means, who held the title two years ago and is talked into helping Beau by Margo. Nathan helps Beau get all “g’d up” and even rehearses a special walk for the kid. Beau’s a little shaky, but with this huge-hearted senior in his corner he can’t lose. Just before the contest, Nathan leaves a PSU/Illinois game with a shoulder injury and he’s a no-show at Beau’s contest. Abbott does show, though, representing the golf team and literally pulls the rug out from under Beau’s time on the ramp. With a saddened Margo’s encouragement, Beau recovers and is crowned “Big Man on Campus”. The victory balloon is deflated when Beau learns that Nathan’s injury will end not only his season, but also his college career. He and Chang come up with a plan. After a final confrontation with Abbott, and with much coercion, and the help of Chang’s Tai-Chi expertise, the boys teach Nathan to kick. Kick? Yes, kick. He’s got a booming leg, and PSU’s kicker is the team’s weakness. Even if Nathan doesn’t make it, the boys have kept this gentle giant in school. But he does get in a game and kicks a 54 yard field goal for the win. In the midst of all the splendor of this victory, Beau gets a call from home. Roy has hurt Rose and left her. Beau leaves Penn State. Once home, Beau hears the truth about Roy -- he isn’t their father at all, but a bitter uncle who stepped in when the boys’ real father died. Beau summons the courage to finally confront Roy and finds him with his girlfriend... and doing so, he grows up taller than he ever dreamed. He’ll stay on the farm with his mother and Bobby... at least that’s what he thinks until Nathan Means, now an Atlanta Falcon, returns this little man’s favor.