Despite its sharp cast and a few laughs, Smart People is too thinly plotted to fully resonate. Read critic reviews
Smart People
2008, Romance/Comedy, 1h 34m
151 Reviews 100,000+ RatingsWhat to know
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Movie Info
Acerbic, selfish and widowed, literature professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) is estranged from his son and his overachieving teenage daughter. Just as he begins a relationship with a former student (Sarah Jessica Parker), Lawrence's ne'er-do-well adoptive brother (Thomas Haden Church) lands on his doorstep. Lawrence realizes he must make some changes in his life and reconnect with his children in order to get on with his life.
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Rating: R (Brief Teen Drug Use|Brief Teen Alcohol Use|Language|Some Sexuality)
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Genre: Romance, Comedy, Drama
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Original Language: English
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Director: Noam Murro
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Producer: Bridget Johnson, Michael Costigan, Michael London, Bruna Papandrea
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Writer: Mark Jude Poirier
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Release Date (Theaters): wide
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Release Date (Streaming):
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Box Office (Gross USA): $9.5M
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Runtime:
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Distributor: Miramax Films
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Sound Mix: Dolby SRD, DTS
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Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)
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Critic Reviews for Smart People
Audience Reviews for Smart People
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Smart people are not smart at all.
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We don't really learn how intelligence has hurt the main character, but how emotional stupidity hurts everyone and the characters have to become smarter about it. There is only one character who is chronically afflicted. Dennis Quaid's performance makes the movie, even with one seduction scene that's written out of character. Ellen Page and Thomas Haden Church are meant to score points with their lines Juno-style, and sitcom-style, and they do. The subplot of her lonely infatuation with the adopted uncle goes bumpy as the uncle creates some distance, being a responsible adult, but starts withdrawing in the style of a child. (And more and more, the girl talks to him like she's a manipulative lech.) I don't know if the two characters' attitudes toward achievement and worldly acceptance are meant to average into some vision of real happiness and fulfillment. For some reason, we're supposed to love one loser unconditionally, no matter what he's doing to himself, and the other when she's not being imperious or meddlesome. The heart of this is a feel-good movie selling its affections, which are sincere, inside the packaging of a subgenre: the dry-toned observational suburban bourgeois drama, where characters wear tweed and have great bookshelves but are unable to find love and happiness ... The bright side of every such tragedy is that filmmakers are able to find a group of expensive actors for only 2 million dollars.
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One of my favorite movies. This film is a refreshing take on the role of smart people in society, taking one broken family trying to rebuild itself after the loss of their mother/wife. Quiad plays an antisocial literature proffesor, whose daugther, played by Ellen Page, is following in his footsteps. Throw in a degenerate uncle and an attractive female counterpoint and this movie is a classic recipe for a decent movie. Funny, sad and eye opening I really do love this movie.
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