this film tell the story of a romance between albert einstien niece and a gas station attendant . in order to get the two together and einstien agrees to help ed ( hudsucker proxy tim robbins ) learn to act more intelligent . this impress catherine ( meg ryan ) . unfortunately einstien go too far and ed be consider to be a genius . hilarity ensues . not to be miss . film in mercer county new jersey at princeton university and lawrenceville prep school ( double for princeton university ) as well a a beautiful vintage gas station in hopewell .