I.Q.

To judge from the movies, Albert Einstein was a goofy comedian who dabbled in algebraic abstractions on the side. Matthau plays fairy godmother to his brainy niece Catherine (Ryan) and besotted local mechanic Ed (Robbins). Unable to see beyond the size of a man's Mensa score, Catherine is engaged to a stuffy English psychologist (Fry); she only becomes interested in Ed when uncle Albert and his cronies conspire to recognise his (entirely imaginary) scientific genius. Unfortunately, the media become interested too, and soon President Eisenhower is on the phone. A sappy, old-fashioned romantic comedy in pastel hues, which might have been given some backbone by a Billy Wilder or a Howard Hawks. Robbins is amiable enough as a Gary Cooper type, and Meg Ryan does her own sweet thing, but the equation is overbalanced by Matthau's matey old man.