YOUNG EINSTEIN

The Film: Young Einstein

The Guest: Artist and regular, Travis Trapp

Young Einstein hit the American market in August 1989. After a successful release in Australia, Warner Brothers were banking on a summer sleeper at the very least, and a blockbuster at most. It received neither. The movie was just too weird for US audiences, while also not being weird enough. It’s a family film, but also a subversive satire. To a 15-year old who had, a year prior, discovered Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Young Einstein was a godsend: it was tame enough to not bother the conservative parents, but biting and weird enough to stimulate this growing boy’s mind. In this episode, we find Andrew (the aforementioned growing boy) and Travis Trapp (his first viewing of the film) discussing the film and its merits. Does it hold up? Or is nostalgia a damned liar?