Product Description

A young mechanic falls in love with Albert Einstein's mathematician niece and the scientist schemes to make her fall in love with the mechanic.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: RYAN/ROBBINS/MATTHAU/DURNING
Title: I.Q.
Street Release Date: 09/09/2003
Domestic
Genre: COMEDY VIDEO

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8404 in DVD
• Brand: RYAN/ROBBINS/MATTHAU/DURNING
• Released on: 2003-09-23
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.com
I.Q. has all the elements of a classic romantic comedy. Certainly Meg Ryan has demonstrated she has the stuff for funny love with films such as When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless in Seattle, and director Fred Schepisi's Roxanne ranks among top contemporary romantic comedies. Even though Tim Robbins received acclaim for dramatic work in Jacob's Ladder and The Shawshank Redemption, his early comedic work shouldn't be forgotten (well, maybe Howard the Duck, but not the hilarious Sure Thing). And Walter Matthau? No explanation needed.

Combine I.Q.'s talent with its fresh story and it charms. Garage mechanic Ed Walters (Robbins) is captivated at first glimpse by pretty, perky Catherine (Ryan), a gifted academic who lives with her uncle, Albert Einstein (a brilliant Matthau). Catherine is engaged to pretentious James Moreland (the oh-so-appropriate English actor and writer Stephen Fry). Catherine's early 1950s world is all bookish and brainy, even though she has aspirations toward the romantic (Moreland's idea of a honeymoon is the Belgian Congo with Pygmies; she longs for Hawaii). Einstein and his professor pals, played by Lou Jacobi, Gene Saks, and Joseph Maher, conspire to match their beloved Catherine with the sincere and smart (though not intellectual) Ed.

This is a sweet--but not saccharine--story about "engineering" the course of true love and the ironic triumph of heart over head. The topnotch performances (which also include Tony Shalhoub and Frank Whaley as fellow mechanics) really draw audiences into this winning movie. --N.F. Mendoza

From The New Yorker
Half a great movie. For the first hour, Fred Schepisi's new comedy hits a high note of tolerant goofiness. Walter Matthau as Albert Einstein, Meg Ryan as the physicist's niece, Stephen Fry as her intended, Tim Robbins as her garage-monkey love interest: with a cast like that, it's not hard to keep the movie kicking along, and the blooming backdrop of nineteen-fifties Princeton adds to the sensation that these guys are living through an age of innocence and making the most of it. Schepisi fools around nicely with the contest between logic and love; Einstein and his cronies hatch a plan to bring Robbins and Ryan together, thus assisting an already benign universe. The jokes are never a blast; they feel subtle and syncopated, hitting you at quiet moments, staying away from the main rhythms of the plot-a wise move, because the plot (never strong to begin with) soon starts to crack. By the end, it's in total collapse, and the good mood dissolves. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

A brilliant romantic comedy
Now this is how to do the genre!

This is brilliantly funny, poignant and tender, but never insipid (the director is Australia...so insipidness is definitely out) movie. Matthau is truly fantastic as Einstein, as are his three sidekicks (especially Godel! and the tree that likes to eat their stuff!) as they try to manuever the two leads together and remove the Lesser Professor, a.k.a the rat man, Chimp Pimp, etc from the picture: the stuffy english fiance of Meg Ryan's Character, played perfectly by Stephen Frey. Of course the Lesser Professor is trying to hang on to Meg Ryan's character and expose Tim Robbin's character as a fraud because of his new found friendhsip with Einstein and the secret paper they're working on so Tim Robbin's character can impress Meg Ryan's charater with 'his genius' because that is what she looks for in a man- a genetic hope of making genius children so she, lacking in her own confidence, can achieve through her children. MEg Ryan's character is Eistein's neice.

I can't understand how Matthau didn't get a best supporting actor nomination for this movie! He is so good, as is all the cast: they fit perfectly, especially the 'four boys'.

The story is fairly linear but well paced. It does deal with a lesser theme of self belief, being yourself, and sexual equality and that brilliant men can be have brilliant women as their equal, or betters. The main theme is not letting the brain rule the heart too much, and to be happy. And that some things-love- defy science!

I can't think of any movie like this one. Its unique, clever, witty and subtle at times (especially the humor: Einstein on a motorbike going wah-hoo...very cool!). So if you like your movies sophisticated, wholesome, honest, stylish and not contrived then you defintely want to see this one! The cinematography and 'fifty-ness' is fantastic!

Definitely 5 stars! More even...!

DVD is very plain: just the movie. No added features or even bio's for that matter. But with a movie this good, who needs them? The picture and sound quality are top notch.

Wa Hoo
Longer ago than I care to remember I had the great fortune to meet Einstein. I was an under grad in college when he made one of his unannounced visits to the campus. Walter Matthau captures the professor briliantly and his humor and wit come through in this film. Einstein's interest in motorcycles and his love of sailing are portrayed lovingly and the very human side of the great man is illustrated with fidelity and humor. It is always on my list of ten favorite films.

Lightweight but funny
Walter Matthau, as Einstein, easily steals the show as he tries to persuade his niece to ditch the brilliant, boring, scientific nerd she's engaged to and follow her heart, which is tugging in the direction of the local auto mechanic, who has taken one look at her over the hood of her disabled car and fallen ridiculously and madly in love.
Even Meg Ryan has trouble with the costuming of the 1950's era: cinched waists, twin sets, white gloves (!!), etc., and I got the feeling she was just going thru the motions of playing Meg Ryan, as only she can.
Cute, but very lightweight.