Smart People (Noam Murro, 2008) — Dennis Quaid, Ellen Page, Thomas Haden Church

[The Bus]

http://images.apple.com/moviesxml/s/miramax/posters/smartpeople_l200802071533.jpg Cy4TPVSpo2E
IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0858479/) | HD Trailers (http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/smartpeople/) | Releases April 11, 2008

First-time director paired with a first-time writer. It doesn't look especially awesome, but I figure it will fall somewhere between Dan in Real Life and Sideways. It might be the professor angle, but I'm getting a real big Wonder Boys vibe here.

[Cheek]

Nobody is looking forward to Smart People (http://www.worththepopcorn.com/preview-sunday/smart-people/)? Not even after Ellen Page (http://www.worththepopcorn.com/preview-sunday/smart-people/) in Juno (http://www.worththepopcorn.com/cinema-saturday/juno/)? I guess we'll find out soon enough. The first IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0858479/) ratings are pretty good. The trailer looks good too in my opinion...

[Suprmallet]

I think the trailer makes it look insipid. And why Sarah Jessica Parker still gets cast as a love interest is beyond me.

[The Bus]

I think the trailer makes it look insipid. And why Sarah Jessica Parker still gets cast as a love interest is beyond me.

I dunno. I thought she was pretty good in Seabiscuit.

[Patman]

"Smart People" is actually tepidly exasperating for most of its running time. In the final analysis, "smart" people need love too. The script relies too much from using the adopted brother character of Chuck to end its scenes with a laugh. It's a device that many sitcom writers use to extricate themselves from scenes, they end them with a touch of the funny while the material preceding the transitional funny doesn't quite earn it. It might work the first couple of times in a film, but its repeated use was unwelcomed and tiresome.

The 2 main subplots revolve around a family of "smart"/educated folks. Lawrence (Dennis Quaid) is a Lit professor trying to sell a book to prospective publishers, Vanessa (Ellen Page) is his scholasticly over-achieving and sarcastic daughter, James (Ashton Holmes) is the son in college with literary aspirations of his own (though his father hasn't a clue), and Chuck (Thomas Haden Church) is the adopted brother of Lawrence, and finds himself in their lives because Lawrence suffers a seizure from a concussion and can't drive for 6 months, so Chuck offers his unreliable services as a driver. Janet (Sarah Jessica Parker) is the ER doctor who treated Chuck after he suffered his concussion, and she was a former student, and they become intertwined romantically, albeit in an initially haltingly boorish fashion because Lawrence is still in his own headspace, which is one of the main subplots. The other subplot revolves around Chuck and Vanessa sort of bonding as he attempts to encourage her to have some fun, and during one of their 'fun' times, Vanessa takes it a little too far, and the remainder of their arc deals with their relating to one another in a cautious manner.

Quaid, Page and Church are good in their performances, though hampered by a staid script. Parker doesn't bring much to the table (again, I blame the script). Sure, there are a lot of small laughs and chuckles, but overall, it never quite gells, and nor becomes all that involving for this viewer.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.

[Daytripper]

I dunno. I thought she was pretty good in Seabiscuit.


OK, I just spit my drink out when I saw your response here. So cruel and hilarious at once. Thanks for that.

I don't mind SJP as an actress. Sure, she's not very attractive (for the most part). But I don't mind watching her work.

[danstheday]

I'd give it a B-. It was good but not great. Good preformances

[Matthew Chmiel]

I would've maybe liked the movie if it was entitled Pretentious Assholes.

Or if I was a critic, I could throw a one-liner out that could be used in the film's advertising that states, "Smart People is written by a stupid moron."

I could go all day making unfunny quips to state how much I disliked this film.

My major problem with the film is that the characters were never fully developed, besides the fact that not one character had an arc.

Dennis Quaid's character went from a major asshole to slightly less of an asshole by the end of the film. Great fucking character development there! The same goes for Ellen Page's character who was just a uptight bitch for 104 minutes with no radical change.

For a film of it's nature, the only likable character happens to be the one played by Thomas Haden Church. The problem with his character is that it feels lifted from a completely, different picture. A picture that probably would've been more entertaining than what is presented on screen.

Added on top of subplots that never went anywhere (such as Quaid's artistic son who gets a poem published in The New Yorker), I just feel that the movie was not only a waste of my time, but just a pretentious piece of shit.

[pjflyer]

I would've maybe liked the movie if it was entitled Pretentious Assholes.



I could go all day making unfunny quips to state how much I disliked this film.

My major problem with the film is that the characters were never fully developed, besides the fact that not one character had an arc.



I couldn't agree more. Not only is there no character development, there are no characters.

Do we know anything about the Sarah Jessica Parker character? Oh, and why and when does she fall in love with Dennis Quaid?

I'm not a Juno backlasher, I think it is a fine movie, but Ellen Page gives a wooden performance. To her credit, I don't know how anyone could get laughs out of her "comedic" lines in this movie.

Fine actors in a terrible screenplay.

[GatorDeb]

Ellen Page? I'll have to catch it :D Around what age is she on the film? They need to start casting her closer to or over her age, I want to see her as something besides a teenager.

[Charlie Goose]

I guess I'll add spoilers.
I agree that there is little to no character development here. Widower Quaid, his high school senior daughter, and his college student son are nasty, obnoxious characters who apparently can't stand each other and never miss a chance to say it. Church comes in as the bum brother who's meant to be the oh-so-wise outside influence, but he doesn't add any real wisdom, just comic relief. He gets his niece drunk and stoned, but at least rejects her sexual advances (he's adopted, so no blood relation). Meanwhile, SJP starts dating Quaid, although he was a total prick to her when she was his student and has gotten no better. Why anyone would want to spend 5 minutes with this pompous ass, I have no idea. She sleeps with him almost right away, then fakes a page from the hospital to throw him out. She doesn't return any of his calls, then shows up uninvited during Christmas dinner. Why? There is no answer given. There is no resolution at the end, they're all still the same miserable assholes they were at the beginning. Church is great in his limited role, Quaid is fine. SJP is SJP, nothing more. And someone please let me know when Page plays a role without snarky, eye-rolling, condescension.

[grrr]

Disagree profoundly with the above reviews. Smart People is a witty and very funny film about misanthropes who don't even--or especially--like themselves. Character arcs may be subtle, but it's certainly there, particularly in Quaid's character. Compare the growth of these characters to those in You Can Count on Me and you'll see that huge dramatic plots aren't necessary for a character-driven work to excel.

Good film in the same vein and setting as Wonder Boys.

[jfoobar]

Well said. I watched this one on DVD maybe 3-4 months ago and remember enjoyig it quite a bit.

If nothing else, the film stands as further proof that Thomas Hayden Church should be in every movie. :)

[bunkaroo]

This one was meh for me. Was hoping for more given the cast. Did like Quaid's character though.

[JPRaup]

I hate movies like this. Not good enough to find something great about and not bad enough to be an awful movie.

I'd rather watch something on either end of the spectrum.

[Charlie Goose]

If nothing else, the film stands as further proof that Thomas Hayden Church should be in every movie. :)
Now THIS I agree with. I'd never been a fan of his, or really even aware of him, but he's had very strong performances in the last few years. Not the Sandman though. ;)