The Best and the Brightest
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User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 1 out of 1

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  1. Myffubs
    Jun 26, 2012
    1
    The Best and the Brightest certainly isn't deserving of its title. It lacks anything resembling goodness or intelligence. Its particularly foul sense of humor is at odds with the maturity level of anyone who might be drawn in by the promise of an interesting set-up. It's about a couple attempting to get their five-year-old into an excellent preschool, yet the humor suggests the movie is for people who really wouldn't put much emphasis on their child's education. The cultural elite is shown as stupid and morally bankrupt, but then, so are the protagonists. The actors don't seem to be acting, as the characters never feel like real people. If nothing else, they're almost always aware they're in front of a camera, either acting bizarrely inhuman or offering half-baked quips in order to amuse a theoretic audience. The Best and the Brightest is essentially sitcom-lite fluff that uses its nonrating to indulge in perversity. I call it perversity because some of the humor simply is dirty without the good grace of being funny. In fact, none of the humor is remotely funny. This is the sort of movie where the aforementioned five-year-old, the reason for the conflict at the center of the story, is reduced to "cute" reaction shots. That, and faux-intellectuals are wowed by sexually explicit instant-messenger logs. So at least viewers are offered the message that smart people are actually really stupid, too. What comfort for those who enjoy this movie.… Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
26 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 14 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 14
  3. Negative: 8 out of 14
  1. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: John DeFore
    Jun 24, 2011
    20
    Manages to be simultaneously offensive and bland.
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  2. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Jeannette Catsoulis
    Jun 24, 2011
    0
    If you are going to be this mean-spirited, you had better deliver the jokes, but the film's attacks on pretentious parents - not to mention put-downs of hardworking immigrants - consistently come off as more hateful than humorous.
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  3. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Joe Neumaier
    Jun 24, 2011
    40
    Riding in to save almost every scene, though, are recent Tony Awards host Harris and the wild and woolly Sedaris, who goes too far, but in a good way. Shelov could learn from them.
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