By 1988, America's fascination with all thing's Australian had reached a fever pitch, fueled by Crocodile Dundee, Men at Work, Foster's beer, and, presumably, that guy Jocko who did commercials for Duracell and shouted "Oy!"

Not only did this phenomenon give us Crocodile Dundee II, it somehow convinced Warner Brothers to give an unknown Australian documentary filmmaker and "experimental comedian" with a silly haircut the chance to write, produce, direct, and star in his very own feature film.

As the title suggests, the film is -- ostensibly -- about Albert Einstein. Only it has him formulating Newton's theories, inventing rock music, putting the bubbles in beer (via nuclear fission and, somehow, the formula E=mc²), romancing Marie Curie, and -- of course -- being Australian instead of German. It's cute and fun -- at least for a time -- until about midway through the film, when Young Einstein turns "serious" as he and Curie (Odile Le Clezio) attempt to foil a nefarious plot of sorts.

Rest assured, this is low comedy -- absurd and frequently stupid, but as much fun as you can have watching someone being repeatedly electrocuted and blown up -- over and over again.

As for Serious, his star would never shine as brightly as it did here, and that's saying something (Einstein made about $12 million in theaters, though that's probably way more than it cost).