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Review: 'Smart People' an enjoyable comedy

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By Linda Cook | Wednesday, April 16, 2008 9:37 AM CDT | () comments

(Contributed photo)

Here’s a gentle little movie about a family of bright people who cherish their knowledge but haven’t a clue about personal relationships.

A high-class ensemble and, yes, a smart script liven up “Smart People,” an enjoyable, good-natured comedy set mostly on a college campus.

English professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) is a widower who can’t let go of the memories of his wife. For example, he still keeps a closet full of her clothes. His daughter, Vanessa (Ellen Page, “Juno”), is studying for her SAT when she’s not busy preparing meals and meeting other Young Republicans. Vanessa’s brother, James (Ashton Holmes, “A History of Violence”), lives on campus, but he stops by the house once in awhile.

When Lawrence’s car is towed, he tries to climb over a fence to get it and ends up being injured and taken to a hospital. Now he can’t drive for six months. What a perfect opportunity for his ne’er-do-well brother (Thomas Haden Church, more or less reprising his role from “Sideways”) to drop in and be his driver.

Lawrence and Vanessa enjoy talking about how smart they are. Great works of literature abound in their house. Both are pompous and stuffy.

But Lawrence’s relationship with a doctor named Janet (Sarah Jessica Parker) rocks their little world. Janet likes Lawrence well enough, but she tires of his self-charged monologues. She challenges him to become interested in other people for a change, but it’s a tough task for a man who is almost universally disliked by his students and colleagues.

Quaid is one of those unsung performers who literally can do anything, so it’s no surprise that he creates a frustrating, but somehow likeable, character in Lawrence. Like Janet, we think there’s a decent person under all of that supercilious behavior. And he is every bit as book-smart as he thinks he is.

Page is terrific as the daughter who’s had to grow up so fast that she’s never had time to be a kid. Church was born to play the role of the lovable loser, and Parker is great as the woman who doesn’t want to commit.

The director and the rest of the crew beautifully capture the physical surroundings of academia and those who work within it.

This is a wise choice for movie goers.

Linda Cook reviews movies for GO! and KWQC-TV6. Contact her at (563) 383-2400 or lcook@qctimes.com.

SMART PEOPLE

Rating: 3 stars

Running time: One hour and 35 minutes

Rated: R for foul language, nudity and sexual situations

Stars: Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Haden Church, Ellen Page and Ashton Holmes

Director: Noam Murro

Screenwriter: Mark Jude Poirier