The life of legendary scientist Albert Einstein is re-imagined as a slapstick farce in this comic fantasy. Changing Einstein's country of origin from Germany to Tasmania, the film shows the scientist's eventful youth as he creates rock & roll and discovers the secret of splitting the beer atom. Director and star Yahoo Serious loads the film with slapstick comedy, absurd sight gags, and even sneaks in a romantic subplot in which Einstein courts Marie Curie. The film was a huge hit in its native Australia but a major box-office disappointment in the United States, where audiences largely ignored the display of nonstop silliness. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
lost interest.
Australian comic writer-director-actor Yahoo Serious, the stage name for Greg Pead, scored a huge hit Down Under with this 1988 farce about a Tasmanian genius who not only discovers the theory of relativity but also invents the electric guitar, rock and roll, the surfboard, and the method of splitting the beer atom. Full of slapstick scenes, sight gags, and unabashed silliness, this Outback comedy was a disappointment outside Australia, perhaps because too much of its humor is Aussie-based. There's even a subplot involving an imagined romance between Einstein and Marie Curie. As a satirical gonzo-biography of a famous person, Young Einstein is in a class by itself; the concept is outrageous, and the comedy strictly a matter of taste. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide