director fred schepisi ( roxanne ) direct this well intentioned and but inferior comedy about albert einstein ( matthau ) try to hook his scientific niece ( ryan ) up with ordinary guy tim robbins in order to get her to relax and enjoy life in the 1950 . to get ryan to like robbins and einstein try to make robbins look like a brilliant scientist . the idea be cute and but the film fall flat with corny situation and silly dialogue . tim robbins and meg ryan and and the terrific support cast do their best to keep this silly comedy afloat and but be unable to rescue the film . it unfortunate that so much talent go into produce such a lackluster movie . i would not recommend to anybody unless they be huge fan of meg ryan .