A mechanic romances the mathematician niece of physicist Albert Einstein, with help from him and his friends.A mechanic romances the mathematician niece of physicist Albert Einstein, with help from him and his friends.A mechanic romances the mathematician niece of physicist Albert Einstein, with help from him and his friends.
Featured reviews
I believe this will ultimately be regarded as one of Ryan's best, no matter where it stands today or no matter how badly it might have bombed at the box office.
Why? Because it's unabashedly everything her other 'cute' movies play at doing; because Tim Robbins is simply brilliant; because Einstein's friends are so good; because Tony S is nothing short of brilliant; and because Walter Matthau is perhaps the real star.
There are memorable quotes you will read about in this section, but they don't really work unless you see them being delivered.
This is only a romp, and it's only for fun, but it has a strong underlying message delivered by Matthau towards the end.
It's very well acted; and if you think Ryan's character is a bit unreal, fine: it is. But that's what you get for the price of admission.
Why? Because it's unabashedly everything her other 'cute' movies play at doing; because Tim Robbins is simply brilliant; because Einstein's friends are so good; because Tony S is nothing short of brilliant; and because Walter Matthau is perhaps the real star.
There are memorable quotes you will read about in this section, but they don't really work unless you see them being delivered.
This is only a romp, and it's only for fun, but it has a strong underlying message delivered by Matthau towards the end.
It's very well acted; and if you think Ryan's character is a bit unreal, fine: it is. But that's what you get for the price of admission.
One of those films with a great central idea and a fantastic cast that somehow just doesn't work. Why? Don't know. Possibly the script? Possibly the lack of chemistry? I've watched it a few times- each time expecting to "get it" this time. Not terrible- but disappointingly mediocre.
The love story here is cute and Tim Robbins has some nice moments, but the reason to watch the movie is Walter Matthau as Albert Einstien. (Meg Ryan has a typical Meg-Ryan-nice-girl performance. What that means, exactly, is up to the reader to decide.) Matthau makes the physicist humble, scheming, fun, and generally endearing. Plus, he and his peers have most of the great lines (e.g. "Don't let your brain interfere with your heart".)
Matthau is wonderful as Albert Einstein in this love story from Fred Schepsi. Car mechanic Robbins falls for quirky Ryan, with the help of the great Einstein and his cronies. It's a fun story idea and all the performances are well paced and delivered.
Sure, I'm a big Meg fan, but this one is high on my list. She's as adorable as ever, Tim Robbins pulls of another great performance, and Walter Matthau is absolutely perfect as Einstein. The movie is thoroughly funny and even manages to be reasonably intelligent!
Did you know
- TriviaThe lines spoken by Walter Matthau as Einstein, "I'd rather be an optimist and a fool than a pessimist and right," "Time is an illusion," and "God does not play dice," are all actual Albert Einstein quotations.
- GoofsDuring the I.Q. test, one of the questions reads "Todd has $d, Mark has Four Times as Much as Todd, and Cassandra has Four Dollars More than Todd. Together They Have $.76. What is d?" This card has two mistakes, the first being a misprint with the punctuation before the 76 making it appear to be 76 cents and not 76 dollars. The correct answer to this question would be 12. [d+4d+(d+4)=76 is simplified to 6d=72, and d=12]. He picks the wrong answer. (If you assume that 'together' implies just Mark and Cassandra then the answer is $14.40 which isn't an option.)
- Quotes
Albert Einstein: Are you thinking what I am thinking?
Ed Walters: Well what would be the odds of that happening?
- Crazy creditsSeveral characters' names are given incorrectly in the credits; Stephen Fry's character is spelled "James Morland" without the E, Lou Jacobi's character Kurt Gödel is spelled with no umlaut over the O, and Tony Shalhoub's character is titled "Bob Watters," not Bob Rosetti as given throughout the film.
- SoundtracksCOCKTAILS FOR TWO
by Sam Coslow and Arthur Johnston
Performed by Spike Jones
Courtesy of RCA Records label of BMG Music
- How long is I.Q.?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $25,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $26,381,221
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $3,131,201
- Dec 26, 1994
- Gross worldwide
- $26,381,221
- Runtime
- 1h 40m(100 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content