When I first turned this movie on, I was expecting to see "Quiz Show". I'm not sure why I mixed them up. Is it the letter Q? And I believe they both came out around the same time. I don't think they have any of the same actors or filmmakers. I was surprised to see Tim Robbins' and Meg Ryan's names on the opening credits. I had seen this movie before but I had pretty much forgot all about it for all those years since around 1994 or 95. That would be what? 30 years? Crazy.
I do remember enjoying this when I first watched it. But now, I don't know. It's not exactly cringey, but it just doesn't seem right. The plot is about a young man pretending to be smart so that a young lady would fall for him. And a group of four old men help him. Also, this young lady is already seeing someone. They may actually be engaged, I think. So most of the movie is about these guys manipulating and lying to the lady to trick her into liking him. One of the old men is Albert Einstein, and the young lady is his niece.
I was able to suspend my disbelief when I first watched it. But now, I couldn't really get past the fact that what they are doing is wrong. The movie is trying to make it cute or whimsical, and the antics are supposed to be mischievous and playful. But it's just not right. The main character falls in love with this lady at first sight, and he says that he sees the future and that they will end up together. If he is so certain of this, then why go through all the trouble and pretense. Just tell her you like her.
How long did he possibly think he could fake being a genius? I think if he truly liked her, he would have asked her about her interests and her thoughts and theories and what kind of projects she was working on. They could have made an actual genuine connection by her getting to share her passion with him. Instead, he spends his time on fooling her. If he had humbled himself, he could have actually learned something for real.
The girl, on her part, eventually realizes that the men are plotting to have the two of them get together. She is already seeing someone somewhat seriously, but still she entertains him. She doesn't stop him right away or reprimand the old men. She just kind of goes along with it. So what did she expect?
As for the man she was already seeing, the movie is trying to make the audience not like him, obviously. But what did he actually do wrong? He was actually working on accomplishing something in his field. He may not have been that great about it, but he was dedicated and he put forth effort into it. Yet, we are supposed to hate him, or at least dislike him. The protagonist even sabotages one of his experiments for no reason.
It's kind of amazing that I was able to look past all these things thirty years ago. Of course, I haven't had any romantic relationships at the time yet. And I probably had crushes on girls who already had boyfriends at the time. So yeah, I probably identified with the Robbins character back then. Not that I identify with the boyfriend character now. I just kind of see how wrong the whole plot against hm was.
The boyfriend is played by Stephen Fry. I had been watching "A Bit of Fry and Laurie" and "Jeeves and Wooster" recently, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him right at the first scene.
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