Film / I.Q. (1994)

Yep, that's Albert Einstein there, alright.

I.Q. is a 1994 American romantic comedy directed by Fred Schepisi.

Set in the mid-50s, the film is about Ed Walters (Tim Robbins), a mechanic falling for mathematician Catherine Boyd (Meg Ryan). Usual romantic comedy fare... except that Catherine is the niece of Albert Einstein (Walter Matthau).

The movie also stars Lou Jacobi, Gene Sakis, Joseph Maher, Stephen Fry, Daniel von Bargen, Tony Shalhoub, Frank Whaley, Charles Durning, Keene Curtis, Alice Playten, and Greg Germann.

It was released on December 25, 1994.

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Tropes for the film include:

• The '50s: The movie takes place sometime in the early to mid 1950's.
• Animal Testing: Catherine Boyd's arrogant fiance, James Moreland, conducts behavioral experiments on lab animals.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Catherine tends to speak quickly and often goes off on tangents.
• Be Yourself. Averted. Ed is pretending to be an undiscovered prodigy in the hopes that the intellectual Catherine will find him attractive.
• Benevolent Boss: Bob Rosetti, Ed's boss at the mechanic shop. He's quite chummy with his employees. He doesn't even get upset with Ed when he catches him reading instead of doing the job he's paying him to do.
• Birds of a Feather: Deconstructed with Catherine and James. At first glance they appear to be well suited for each other since they're both accomplished academics and part of the same social circle. But they have different personalities and not to mention widely different ideas on how to spend their honeymoon.
  James: What we have will last: Common aims and interests, verbal communications, financial security, intellectual compatibility.
  Catherine: What about love?
• Book Dumb: Ed does not have much in the way of formal education; but he is intelligent.
• Book Ends: The film begins and ends with Catherine experiencing car trouble and then encountering Ed.
• Cheaters Never Prosper. Very much averted. Even after Catherine uncovers Ed's duplicity, they end up together anyway.
• Cool Bike: Ed drives a Harley-Davidson Model K. He even gives Albert Einstein a ride through the New Jersey countryside on it!
• Cool Car: It's the 1950's so there are several:
  • Einstein and his buddies drive a 1953 De Soto Firedome which Ed modifies into a convertible.
  • James drives a 1955 MG TF.
• Cool Old Guy: Albert Einstein. He's a charming old man who rides a motorcycle, listens to Little Richard, and dispenses love advice.
• Cool Shades: Ed wears a pair of dark sunglasses while he's driving his motorcycle or Einstein's De Soto.
• Cool Uncle: Catherine's uncle is none other then Albert Einstein!
• Date Peepers: A benign example. In the final scene Einstein uses a telescope to observe Catherine and Ed while they embrace while watching a comet in the night sky.
• Deadpan Snarker: James, as befitting of a Stuffy Brit.
• Determinator: James is skeptical of Ed's claims and sets out to prove that he isn't a prodigy. He especially fits this role after Catherine breaks their engagement to be with Ed.
• Disposable Fiancé: James Moreland. He's a pompous bore who, as part of his academic research, conducts unsettling experiments on human and animal test subjects. Catherine is marrying him because she believes she should marry an intellectual.
• Ditzy Genius: Catherine Boyd. She's a doctoral candidate in mathematics at Princeton. However, she's also absent-minded and easily distracted.
• Drives Like Crazy: Liebknecht has poor driving skills and apparently does not have a drivers license.
• Easily Forgiven: Near the climax, when Catherine discovers that Ed has been conning her for much of the movie she's furious. She still hooks up with him at the end. This is quite possibly because in disproving the theory, she did something that even her uncle could not do.
• Eccentric Mentor: Albert Einstein serves as this to Ed. He's also rather eccentric in general.
• Electric Instant Gratification: James is doing the experiment with the mouse. There are two switches the mouse can press: one that gives him food and one that gives him this trope. The mouse hasn't eaten in three days. Moreland asks Einstein how this could possibly be the case, and Albert simply gives him a look.
• Enormous Engagement Ring: Catherine wears an engagement ring with a noticeable stone.
  Albert: She's engaged you know.
  Ed: Yeah, I saw the ring.
• Escaped Animal Rampage: Godel, Podolsky, and Liebknecht slip in to James' laboratory and release the lab animals. The ensuing chaos causes James to miss an outing with Catherine.
• Elite School Means Elite Brain: Catherine is the intelligent niece of Albert Einstein and is a doctoral candidate at Princeton.
• Everyone Loves Blondes: Catherine Boyd is played by famously blonde actress, Meg Ryan.
• Grease Monkey: Ed and his fellow auto mechanics, who often appears as greasy as their work could suggest.
• Fanboy: Bob Rosetti, the owner of the shop Ed works at, is a big fan of Albert Einstein and is excited to meet him.
• Foil: James is formal, old fashioned, repressed, educated, affluent, and acerbic. Ed is casual, contemporary, passionate, Book Dumb, working class, and amiable. On the other hand James is always honest with Catherine while Ed spends most of the film deceiving her.
• Greek Chorus: Einstein's three friends, Godel, Podolsky, and Liebknecht play this role. They are always together and commenting on the events of the film as they happen.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: A test subject in a time deprivation study is shown going crazy from the experience.
• Happily Ever After: When Ed first meets Catherine he sees a vision of them ending up like this.
• Hidden Depths: Exploited. Ed is a mechanic who barely passed high school. But he is intelligent and has a keen interest in astronomy. Einstein and his friends use this to try to pass him off as a wunderkind in order to attract Catherine's attention.
• Historical Character's Fictional Relative: The film's female lead is the fictional niece of Albert Einstein.
• Historical Domain Character:
  • Albert Einstein, Catherine's uncle and well known physicist.
  • Dwight D. Eisenhower, World War II General and president of the United States.
  • Kurt Gödel and Boris Podolsky were also real mathematicians, though less well known than Einstein.
  • Louis Bamburger was a New Jersey based businessman and philanthropist.
• Hypocritical Humor: Liebknecht rants about other drivers on the road after he almost caused an accident due to his inattentive driving.
  Liebknecht: They should make people pass a test before they let them drive.
  Godel: You have to pass a test, how else could you get a license?
  Liebknecht: License?

• Irony: James Moreland is an expert in the field of psychology but he fails to understand his fiancee's emotional needs.
• Incredibly Lame Fun: James's idea for their honeymoon is to visit a Pygmy tribe in the Belgian Congo. Catherine is less than enthused.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While during a dinner party Catherine attempts to get amorous with James, which he refuses due to their location. In actuality, having a tryst at your bosses house while he's hosting a formal dinner doesn't seem like a very wise move.
• Love Triangle: The film starts with Catherine engaged to James, a psychology professor. She then takes a romantic interest in Ed, the neighborhood mechanic.
• The Makeover: Inverted. Einstein and his pals dress Ed down to make him look like one would expect a disheveled genius to look like in order to try to pass him off as an undiscovered prodigy.
• Meet Cute: Catherine and Ed first meet at Ed's garage after she has engine trouble. Ed is smitten with her and when she leaves behind her watch he takes this as an opportunity to go to her home to return it. When he arrives Albert Einstein answers the door and introduces himself as her uncle. This is what kicks off the plot.
• One-Word Title: I.Q..
• Opposites Attract: Zig-Zagged with Catherine and Ed. Catherine is a mathematician and doctoral candidate at Princeton while Ed is an auto mechanic who barely passed high school. However, while Ed may be Book Dumb is is intelligent and quick witted. They also share a strong interest in astronomy.
• Parent-Preferred Suitor: Uncle Albert thinks the friendly Ed is a far better match for Catherine than her uptight fiance, James.
• Plagiarism in Fiction: Einstein gives Ed one of his old unpublished papers on cold fusion to pass him off as a wunderkind. It does impress Catherine, but then the media and the government find out about it.
• Playing Sick: Albert Einstein often fakes a heart issue to serve as a distraction at various points in the film.
• Relationship Sabotage: Einstein and his buddies do what they can to get Catherine away from James and closer to Ed. They'll distract James at a party or disrupt his experiments just so Ed can get more alone time with her.
• Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: Downplayed. While it's clear James enjoys a more affluent lifestyle than Ed, it's never mentioned and doesn't really factor into Catherine's decision.
• Shipper on Deck: Einstein likes Ed and thinks he and Catherine would make a great couple. He and his buddies do what they can to get them together.
• Shrinking Violet: Catherine sometimes lacks confidence in herself and she gets embarrassed when she sees herself in a Newsreel with Ed.
• Shout-Out:
  • In Ed's home, a poster for The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) is hung up on a wall.
  • Einstein and his buddies listen to Little Richard's song "Tutti Frutti" at one point.
• Smug Snake: James has a very high opinion of himself and a very low opinion of the people around him.
  James: I was wrong about him. He's not an idiot-savant at all. He's the real thing. He's an idiot-idiot!
• Sore Loser: When Catherine realizes that she's fallen in love with Ed, she calls off her engagement to James who doesn't take it well. Instead of moving on with his life, James only doubles down in his endeavor to prove that Ed isn't the wunderkind everyone else believes him to be.
• State Visit: When President Eisenhower learns that Ed has discovered cold fusion he arrives in Princeton, New Jersey to meet with him.
• Stay in the Kitchen: It's implied that this will be Catherine's fate if she proceeds with marrying James.
• Stuffy Brit: James Moreland plays this straight. He's uptight, elitist, dull and repressed. He even has a preference for British sports cars.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Ed's boss calls him out on pretending to be something he's not to attract Catherine and asks him how long he thinks he can keep doing it.