Smart People (2008)

O Masterpiece
X Excellent
O Good
O OK
O Mediocrity
O Avoid

Review by Jason Pyles / May 17, 2008

Much like Ashley Judd’s “Come Early Morning” (2006), “Smart People” is excellent for its ability to present a slice of life with interesting but credible characters. We might not love all the smart people in this film, but we believe they could exist, and more importantly, we see where they’re coming from.

Dennis Quaid plays Lawrence Wetherhold, a pompous literature professor at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh who’s trying to publish a book and climb to the head of his department. Moreover, Lawrence is a widower with an equally bright daughter, Vanessa (Ellen Page of “Juno” fame), and a son, James (Ashton Holmes).

Through an ignominious accident, Lawrence finds himself in the hospital, where his doctor and inevitable love interest is played by one Sarah Jessica Parker. They have history together, but the professor doesn’t remember it.

Also, Lawrence’s adopted, black-sheep brother and the best character in the film, Chuck (Thomas Haden Church), moves in with the family for symbiotic reasons, much to Lawrence’s chagrin. Church plays the tension-breaker amidst the dramatic strain.

“Smart People” is one of those films where very little happens in the way of plot developments, and that’s just fine. The entertaining element of the film is its characters and their clashing, intermingled, bumper-car relationships. The value of a film like “Smart People” is to simply escape one’s own family to watch the conflicts of another, equally dysfunctional group of people who love one another, despite themselves.

Directed by Noam Murro
Dennis Quaid / Thomas Haden Church / Sarah Jessica Parker
Drama / Comedy 95 min.
MPAA: R (for language, brief teen drug and alcohol use, and for some sexuality)

U.S. Release Date: April 11, 2008
Copyright 2008: 276