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The Best and the Brightest

Play trailer Poster for The Best and the Brightest R 2010 1h 33m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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26% Tomatometer 19 Reviews 30% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Samantha (Bonnie Somerville) and Jeff (Neil Patrick Harris) realize they will have to go to great lengths to get their 5-year-old daughter into school.

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The Best and the Brightest

Critics Reviews

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John DeFore The Hollywood Reporter 06/24/2011
Absurd premise and weak script doom this comedy about haute-preschool angst. Go to Full Review Lou Lumenick New York Post 06/24/2011
1.5/4
Josh Shelov's smug and smutty farce employs an estimable cast in an only sporadically funny story... Go to Full Review Joe Neumaier New York Daily News 06/24/2011
2/5
Far too many sitcom shenanigans crop up like clockwork... Go to Full Review David Nusair Reel Film Reviews 10/19/2011
2/4
...it's finally impossible to label The Best and the Brightest as anything more than a sporadically amusing misfire. Go to Full Review Brent Simon Shared Darkness 06/29/2011
C+
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. Go to Full Review Avi Offer NYC Movie Guru 06/24/2011
7/10
A politically incorrect farce that's increasingly preposterous and inane yet nonetheless hilarious, zany and bold. Amy Sedaris has never been funnier. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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06/13/2015 Silly and ridiculous with a great cast of characters. See more 03/05/2014 Hey hey! you will never love me the way I love you and Iam ok with that because no one can love you as much as I love you so stick with me? I think Im getting better with age. -J. See more 08/29/2013 Absurd premise and weak script doom this comedy about haute-preschool angst. See more 07/08/2013 There were some funny parts, but this felt to me like another "kid movie for adults", ie: kid type humor with tons of sexual content and swearing. If a kid were allowed to watch through the heavy R rating, I'm sure they would have thought it was great. See more 12/13/2012 There is almost no plot to speak of, but some of the dialogue is absolutely hilarious. And, I mean, who can go wrong with Neil Patrick Harris? It's insipid, pointless and sometimes incredibly crass, but I enjoyed it anyway. There's nothing wrong with mindless comedy once in a while, and this is one of the more fun mindless comedies I've seen recently. See more 11/29/2012 There were cute parts, but it was weak. See more Read all reviews
The Best and the Brightest

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Cast & Crew

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Josh Shelov

Director

Neil Patrick Harris

Jeff

Bonnie Somerville

Samantha

Amy Sedaris

Sue Lemon

Peter Serafinowicz

Clark

Christopher McDonald

The Player

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The Best and the Brightest

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Movie Info

Synopsis Samantha (Bonnie Somerville) and Jeff (Neil Patrick Harris) realize they will have to go to great lengths to get their 5-year-old daughter into school.
Director
Josh Shelov
Producer
Nicholas Simon, Patricia Weiser, Robert Weiser
Screenwriter
Michael Jaeger, Josh Shelov
Production Co
High Treason Productions
Rating
R (Pervasive Language|Some Nudity|Sexual Content)
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 16, 2010, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Aug 10, 2016
Runtime
1h 33m