Australian Fred Schepisi (A Cry in the Dark) directs this comedy/ romance that is fun, relaxing, and set in the spring. You will laugh while watching this movie. Tim Robbins (Shawshank Redemption, Dead Man Walking) is an auto mechanic, Ed Walters, with a high IQ, which gets higher with the help of Albert Einstein, Walter Matthau (Grumpy Old Men) and his academic friends Nathan, Kurt and Boris. You can tell them by their preppie shoes. Meg Ryan (Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail) is Catherine Boyd, Einstein's niece who is a competent, but not so confident mathematician. Perhaps it is because she is surrounded by all that genius. She thinks that if she marries someone with a high I.Q. her kids will have a high I.Q. as well, but she does not knows what she wants. Between Tim Robbins cute smile and Meg's cuteness this is a refreshing movie. I love sweet stories. People all ages should enjoy this movie. Catherine is engaged to the jerk James Moreland, who works in animal behavior, but is very stuffy. This is a love a first sight type situation, between the mechanic and the mathematician. Witty lines and subliminal lines! The cinematography is nice. Princeton, New Jersey is beautiful in the Spring. With much help from all those brilliant men Catherine falls for Ed, without knowing that he is an automobile mechanic.

Favorite Scenes: Ed taking a multiple choice test in front of a crowd with the help of Einstein, Nathan, Kurt, and Boris. Ed and Einstein riding on the motorcycle. Nathan, Kurt and Boris letting all the research animals free!

Favorite Quotes: Albert Einstein: "Don't let your brain interfere with your heart". Ed Walters: "When was the last time he said "Wahoo""? Catherine Boyd: "Well I'm sure I don't know". This is a refreshing movie, I recommend it. I have the tape and every once and awhile I will watch it again.

I.Q was the Big Bang Theory of the 1990's. This romantic comedy directed by Fred Schepisi is a very charming film. The film is about friendly garage mechanic, Ed Walters (Tim Robbins) who is trying to impress a smart Princeton University mathematician, Catherine Boyd (Meg Ryan) by acting a newly discovery genius with some help with Catherine's Uncle, Albert Einstein (Walter Matthau) and his buddies, fellow scientists Nathan Liebknecht (Joseph Maher),Kurt Gödel (Lou Jacobi),and Boris Podolsky (Gene Saks). The casting for Albert Einstein's friends almost were originally going to be Peter Ustinov, Barry Humphries and John Cleese. No matter who was cast, they see Edward as someone who would be better suited for Catherine, rather than her stiff and fussy English fiancé, experimental psychology professor James Moreland (Stephen Fry). Things get heat up, when the science community heard about this 'wunderkind' genius work on Cold Fusion power rockets, and seek Edward to help the American take back, the space race from the Russians. I have to say, everybody is just charming. Tim Robbins is a fine actor who is believable, but he was a bit difficult during filming I heard. He said in the '90s nobody would like a character who has a woman fall in love with him because of a lie. That's the whole premise of the film. In my opinion, I didn't mind it, but I think Tim Robbins was right, because not a lot of people end up going to see this movie. Meg Ryan is a hot smart woman who looks wonderful in the poodle skirts. She looks really young in this role. Stephen Fry was pretty good, and at less, the filmmakers didn't make his character too unlikable. Last, I have to say Walter Matthau fit the part. He did a great job to the point that it seem like Albert Einstein was playing himself. For dramatic reasons, I.Q. fictionalizes the lives of certain real people. Albert Einstein did not have a niece by the name of Catherine Boyd. Kurt Gödel was famously shy and reclusive, so he probably wouldn't be hanging out with Einstein and Boris Podolsky. I like how the movie didn't play it safe, by over explaining the calculations of the physics theories. If you don't get the jokes. It's alright. I didn't get some of the things, they were saying, too. Plus, I study physics before, coming into this film. I love to do my research, and I think I learn a lot from this film. I never heard of Hamiltonians, iambic pentameter, zeno paradox and others. The odd humor might leave some people scratching their heads, but overall, most of it was pretty simple to understand. The comedy works as well. I love the debate scene about if time exist or not. The whole I.Q test was funny, but a bit unrealistic. The Spike Jones music scene was pretty odd. The Marlon Brando impression was great. By the way, people, the impression was from 1953's Wild Ones and 1954's On the Waterfront, not 1972's the Godfather. I love the movie soundtrack very much from Jerry Goldsmith. The violin melody of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star was amazing to hear. Other songs heard was the Alphabet song, and some classical music from Wolfgang Mozart, and Joseph Haydn. Some critics didn't find the movie great, because Einstein in their eyes seem too silly or dumb. I doubt Einstein was such a hard head scientist. Einstein reportedly was playful and fond of jokes that could be seen by some as childish, but in the movie, he was indeed sound smart with all the terminology. I love how they got away with the PG rating with all the sexual innuendos, down speaks, and euphemism. There was a lot of dark humor as well like example, the man stuck in a box without a sense of time. Minus, the historic accuracies, this film is fun to watch. This romantic comedy is full of wahoo!

While many of the characters in "I. Q." were named after and based on real people, not much of this story is true. It simply didn't happen. However, provided you can ignore this and a huge plot problem, the story is cute and well worth seeing.

Al Einstein (Walter Matthau) likes to hang out with some smartypants friends at Princeton University. They are all concerned about Al's niece, Catherine (Meg Ryan),as she's bright and capable but also is dating a guy who is about as fun and romantic as a rabid squirrel...and she plans on marrying him. But after meeting a mechanic, Ed (Tim Robbins),they decide that he would make a better husband for Catherine...so they decide to manipulate her into believing he's some sort of super-genius....the sort of guy she'd want to procreate with instead of her yutz boyfriend. However, this plan ends up snowballing...and even soon involves President Eisenhower! How all this works out is for the viewer to see for themselves.

As my summary says, this is a turn off your brain and enjoy sort of film. Provided you can do this, you are bound to enjoy this light comedy. Nothing brilliant here...but it is nice and sweet and the acting is pretty good.