L'amour en équation

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.

IQ is a cute romantic comedy featuring two great actors that seem to click well on screen. Plot is a typical guy wrong for girl, guy gets girl format, but makes the solid point that one must love with the heart and not the the mind. Addition of Albert Einstein and his band of geniuses provides excellent comic relief. Overall, a good movie. Not great, but good

I saw "I.Q." again today, and now realize how good a movie it is. In fact, I boosted my rating. Since my first viewing, I have seen a couple of biographical movies about Albert Einstein, and that gave me a framework for better appreciating some of the humor. I own the DVD and, while it has no extras, it is a very nice presentation, and the sound is Dolby 5.1. There was a scene with birds twittering in the surround speakers, thoroughly confusing my cat, Bullet.

Set in the 1950s, when Eisenhower was president, and both the US and Russia were in a race of sorts to explore space, Tim Robbins plays a mechanic who likes to read astronomy and science for fun. Meg Ryan plays a mathematician who isn't quite sure of herself, and Matthau plays Albert Einstein, her uncle. In a round-about way, Einstein and his fellow Physicists play matchmaker, and try to get Ryan and Robbins together. This is simply a wonderful romantic comedy with no swearing, no sex, and very little innuendo.

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".)

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.