The Best and the Brightest (2010)
Average Rating: 4.3/10
Reviews Counted: 19
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 14
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 3.2/10
Critic Reviews: 10
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 9
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 2.7/5
User Ratings: 1,010
My Rating
Movie Info
Set in the world of New York City's elite private kindergartens, The Best and the Brightest centers on a fresh-faced young couple from Delaware, Jeff and Samantha, who have only recently moved into town, and the extreme lengths they must go to in order to get their five-yearold daughter into school. Every private school in the city informs Sam that she's simply too late to apply for a kindergarten spot this fall. But Sam will not be denied. The only way Sue is able to arrange it is by telling
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Cast
-
Neil Patrick Harris
Jeff -
Amelia Talbot
Beatrice -
-
Nina Hodoruk
Upper East Side Mom -
Michael Elian
Middle Eastern Bag Deal... -
Suzanne Savoy
Chapin Headmistress -
Jennie Grace
Altoids Mom -
Cornelia Guest
Spence Mom -
Brea Bee
Grace Church Mom -
Jenna Stern
Katherine Heilmann -
Kelly Coffield Park
Cindy Tanaka-Blumstein -
Jos Laniado
Luis the Super -
Juliette Dunn
P.S. 184 Tour Guide -
Sadiq Afif
P.S. 184 Boy -
Jordan Johnston
P.S. 184 Boy -
Ralphie May
P.S. 184 Security Guard -
Tim Johnson
Kid Harassing Security ... -
Ellis Walding
P.S. 184 Cop -
Amy Sedaris
Sue Lemon -
Maria Armesto
Conseula -
Peter Serafinowicz
Clark -
Christopher McDonald
The Player -
Mets Suber
Abraham -
Kate Mulgrew
Player's Wife -
John Hodgman
Henry -
Stephen Park
George Tanaka-Blumstein -
Jalen Hoang
Yoshi -
Amanda Phillipson
Lucinda -
Nina Lisandrello
Bianca -
Bridget Regan
Robin -
Emily Tremaine
Mica -
Richard Schiffrin
Corrupt Nassau County L... -
Urs Hirschbiegel
Man At Podium -
-
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All Critics (19) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (5) | Rotten (14) | DVD (1)
Absurd premise and weak script doom this comedy about haute-preschool angst.
Top CriticJosh Shelov's smug and smutty farce employs an estimable cast in an only sporadically funny story...
Far too many sitcom shenanigans crop up like clockwork...
A repellent comedy that's less fun than a parasite infection...
Flies off its comic rails after an engaging start, never to land back on solid ground.
The Best and the Brightest is amusing at times but never more than a modest diversion, lacking the cleverness and imagination required to turn it into more than a one-joke movie.
...it's finally impossible to label The Best and the Brightest as anything more than a sporadically amusing misfire.
A slim pan. While there's a certain novelty of setting and a lot of its dialogue pops, the movie's chief problem is the fact that it doesn't seem to wholly embrace the arguably detestable nature of its characters.
A politically incorrect farce that's increasingly preposterous and inane yet nonetheless hilarious, zany and bold. Amy Sedaris has never been funnier.
What begins as a skewering of big-city elitism at its most absurd and nonsensical turns out to be a permanent detour down an extremely narrow tributary, as one good joke slowly gets the life squeezed out of it.
A farce that can't quite find its comic register.
This is a positive review for a mediocre movie with outstanding performances. The Best and the Brightest doesn't describe this movie - only its cast.
Dimly plays out like a waking daymare Alexander Payne thought up while sitting disinterestedly through last fall's disinteresting Waiting for Superman.
Strictly bush league, save for a few bravura performances.
It may dawn on you that the film really only has one, big joke up its sleeve, but like The Aristocrats it finds so many great ways to tell it that the punchline rarely matters.
Audience Reviews for The Best and the Brightest
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Jeff: We have a five year old daughter, and we are looking to get her in kindergarden, this fall.
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- The Player: Improv it for me, all like Ginsberg style.
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Director: Josh Shelov
Summary: New arrivals Jeff and Samantha are determined to get their 5-year-old daughter into New York City's most elite private kindergarten. But there's only one opening left, and the couple is about to find out just how cutthroat the competition is.
My Thoughts: "A funny, raunchy, dark comedy. Peter Serafinowicz was probably the raunchiest and funniest one for me. I just think that kind of vulgar behavior is funny. Maybe there is something horribly wrong with me, but then again maybe not. Neil Patrick is always great in these types of roles. Bonnie Somerville held her own as well. It was a great cast for what the film is. The whole story is quite unimaginable which makes it that much better. The fact that these people actually see beauty or pure talent in these explicit writings is unfathomable to me. But it's a lot of fun watching it. Great little comedy that I'm glad I didn't pass on."