[2] Albert Einstein, the son of an apple farmer in Tasmania in the early 1900s, is interested in physics rather than the family business.

Einstein leaves and meets Marie at the university, only to upset her professor by erasing his work and writing his own theory.

They use the Curie family hot air balloon and head to the Nobel ceremony in Paris that night, attended by many inventors and scientific luminaries.

Charles Darwin announces Preston is the winner of this year's Nobel Prize for his beer bubble discovery.

Einstein naively expresses his trust in the governments of the world, announces he has learned a new theory, and then plays a rock and roll song.

Serious first became interested in Albert Einstein when he was travelling down the Amazon River and saw a local wearing a T-shirt with a picture of a physicist on it.

[4] On returning from the Amazon, Serious adapted a previous screenplay called The Great Galute which he had written with David Roach.

[9] The movie started filming again late in 1985 and went for seven weeks, from 23 September, taking place in Newcastle and Wollombi, near Cessnock in the Hunter Valley, with the second unit at various locations throughout Australia.

A 91-minute version of the film was entered in the 1986 AFI Awards where composer William Motzing won Best Music.

Roadshow bought out Film Accord in March 1987, persuaded Warner Bros. to take on the film for international distribution outside Australia, and financed re-shooting, re-editing and re-scoring, resulting in an hour of new material which included a new ending and new music score which included the addition of songs by artists such as Paul Kelly, Icehouse and Mental As Anything.

[7][12] Serious' key collaborators in the movie were co-writer David Roach, co-producer Warwick Rodd and associate producer Lulu Pinkus.

[3] The film received negative reviews in the United States, with Spin describing the release as a "marketing misfire" due to Warner Bros.' "PR department's penchant for overkill".

[16] The reviewers at The Washington Post were unimpressed: Rita Kempley called the film "dumber-than-a-bowling-ball" and questioned its mass appeal; Desson Howe noted that distributor Warner Bros. had made it a "pre-processed legend" regardless of merit.

"[19] The Los Angeles Times gave a favorable review, saying the film would appeal to younger audiences and that "it's just about impossible to dislike a movie in which examples of the hero's pacifism include his risking his life to save kitties from being baked to death inside a pie.

"[20] Neil Jillett of Australia's The Age reviewed the film positively, noting that despite some "directorial slackness", the film was "a lively work that is sophisticated and innocent, witty and farcical, satirical and unmalicious, intelligent but not condescending, full of concern with big issues but not arrogantly didactic, thoroughly Australian but not nationalistic.

"[21] Variety meanwhile thought that the film relied on the performance of Yahoo Serious, who they described "exhibits a brash and confident sense of humor, endearing personality, and a fondness for sight gags.

"[22] Although giving it a low rating, Leonard Maltin stated, "any movie with 'cat pies' can't be all bad".

[29] US distributor Warner Bros., hoping for similar crossover success as "Crocodile" Dundee, spent US$8 million on a major marketing push.