Main Cast: Tim Robbins, Meg Ryan, Walter Matthau, Lou Jacobi, Gene Saks
Release Year: 1994
Country: US
Run Time: 95 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Legendary scientist Albert Einstein (played here by Walter Matthau) takes a break from theoretical physics to try to set up his intellectual niece with a handsome auto mechanic in this romantic comedy. The movie's central conceit is that Einstein's brilliance extends to matters of the heart, allowing him to immediately sense that Ed Walters (Tim Robbins), a bright, lower-class mechanic obsessed with Popular Science Magazine, would be perfect for his niece Catherine (Meg Ryan). Unfortunately, Catherine is already engaged to a stiff Princeton man. In order to defeat Catherine's resistance, Uncle Albert decides to help Ed pretend to be a revolutionary scientist, a charade that inevitably leads to much farcical confusion. Einstein's scientist pals are portrayed as a Greek chorus of Catskills-style kibitzers, featuring such notable perfomers as Lou Jacobi as Kurt Godel and director Gene Saks as Boris Podolsky. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
Review
The syrup flows freely in this too cute but somewhat amusing romantic comedy from director Fred Schepisi, who strives for but fails to attain the charm and energy of his previous winner Roxanne (1987). The lovebird leads are instantly forgettable: Meg Ryan gives one of her trademark "smart but clueless" performances, while Tim Robbins re-creates his low-wattage character from Bull Durham (1988) sans the cocky swagger. It may not be entirely on the actors' shoulders, as their characters (and thus their performances) lack any edge, brittleness, or originality that might have rendered them believable and worthy of sympathy and identification. What works quite well here, however, is the screenplay's quirky and lovable concept that casts Albert Einstein (ably portrayed by Walter Matthau) as a mensch accompanied by a gaggle of kvetching yes-men straight out of Neil Simon or Woody Allen, for whom physics is a distant second to playing Cupid. The genuinely cute idea here is that Einstein is so smart, his true genius is to realize that love and chemistry are more important than compatibility or brains. For those able to suspend disbelief long enough to buy that a high intelligence quotient equals wisdom and good-heartedness, I.Q. will prove diverting. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Joseph Maher - Nathan Liebknecht; Stephen Fry - James Moreland; Tony Shalhoub - Bob Rosetti; Frank Whaley - Frank; Scotty Bloch - Dinner Guest; Jeff Brooks - Reporter; Keene Curtis - Eisenhower; Alice Drummond - Dinner guest; Charles Durning - Louis Bamberger; Sol Frieder - Professor Loewenstein; Helen Hanft - Rose; Tim Jerome - Academic; Alice Playten - Gretchen; Rex Robbins - Suit; Lewis J. Stadlen - Moderator; Daniel Von Bargen - Secret service agent; Richard Woods - Suit; Danny Zorn - Dennis; Leo Leyden - Dinner Guest; John McDonough - Academic
Credit
W. Steven Graham - Art Director, David Rubin - Casting, Neil Machlis - Co-producer, Ruth Myers - Costume Designer, John Wildermuth - First Assistant Director, Fred Schepisi - Director, Jill Bilcock - Editor, Sandy Gallin - Executive Producer, Scott Rudin - Executive Producer, Jerry Goldsmith - Composer (Music Score), Danny Michael - Musical Direction/Supervision, Michael Laudati - Makeup, Stuart Wurtzel - Production Designer, Ian Baker - Cinematographer, Carol Baum - Producer, Fred Schepisi - Producer, Gretchen Rau - Set Designer, Andy Breckman - Screenwriter, Michael Leeson - Screenwriter
Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.
The noun has one meaning:
Meaning #1:
a measure of a person's intelligence as indicated by an intelligence test; the ratio of a person's mental age to their chronological age (multiplied by 100)
Synonyms: intelligence quotient, IQ
Tim Robbins is an amiable garage mechanic named Ed Walters who finds Meg Ryan's character, Catherine Boyd, a beautiful and intelligent Princeton Universitymathematics doctoral candidate, as she comes into the garage (accompanied by her stiff and fussy English fiancé, an experimental psychologyprofessor, played by Stephen Fry). There is an immediate connection, but she refuses to acknowledge it. Finding a watch she left at the garage, Ed travels to her address and finds himself face to face with Albert Einstein (played by Walter Matthau), who is Catherine's uncle. Albert, portrayed as a fun loving genius along with his mischievous friends Nathan, Kurt, and Boris, sees in Ed someone who would be better suited for Catherine, and the four of them attempt to help Ed look and sound more like a scientist (i.e., a wunderkind in physics), while at the same time trying to convince Catherine that life is not all about the mind but about the heart as well. This is intended to be Einstein's most enduring legacy to his niece as he realizes that he'll not be available for her for very much longer. Catherine eventually sees through the ruse but ends up falling for Ed anyway. The very last image in the movie is of a smiling Albert Einstein using a small telescope to spy on the two young moonstruck lovers as they take delight in each other's company.
Dramatic alterations
For dramatic reasons, I.Q.. fictionalizes several real people. Albert Einstein did not have a niece by the name of Catherine Boyd. Kurt Gödel was famously shy and introverted, unlike his fictional counterpart in this film. The movie gives the impression that Einstein and his friends were all around the same age, when in fact, they were between 17 and 30 years younger than Einstein. The real life Louis Bamberger died in 1944, before the movie's time period.
