The Best and the Brightest
The Best and the Brightest Image
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Metascore
26 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 14 Critics What's this?

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  • Summary: In the world of New York City's posh Upper East Side, the most sought-after spot is no longer the multimillion-dollar apartment. The Best and the Brightest centers on neophyte couple Jeff and Samantha, who after a recent move to the Upper East Side, discover how difficult it is to get their 5-year-old daughter into a top kindergarten. When they realize the great lengths they must go, they hire an “educational consultant” and design a scheme to get their daughter into the one open spot left in the most elite school in Manhattan.(Echo Bridge Entertainment)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 14
  3. Negative: 8 out of 14
  1. Movieline
    Reviewed by: Michelle Orange
    Jun 23, 2011
    65
    The goof on New York's awful elite only gets grimmer and less viable as the film goes on.
  2. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Nick Schager
    Jun 21, 2011
    60
    The Best and the Brightest's sharp one-liners and strong cast, especially McDonald's gleefully lecherous performance as an unabashed Republican pervert, help make it a sturdy bit of subculture-tweaking silliness.
  3. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Eric Henderson
    Jun 22, 2011
    38
    Writer-director Josh Shelov (working with co-writer Michael Jaeger) is trolling in fertile, easy territory, but rather than mine the subject for what it's worth, he resorts to depressingly cheap mistaken-identity shenanigans and raunchy "he-milk" gags.
  4. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    Jun 24, 2011
    38
    Amy Sedaris, channeling her inner Frances McDormand as a hyper admissions coach, gets most of the laughs.

See all 14 Critic Reviews

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  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 1 out of 1
  1. Myffubs
    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.… Collapse

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