Smart People

I decided to go check out of a flick while I get over this stupid cold and chose Smart People. I went knowing very little except that Sarah Jessica Parker was one of the stars. A good friend of mine likes to go into a movie knowing nothing about the plot. Me: "Hey, Rox, wanna go see ___?" Rox: "Who's in it?" Me: "So and So and that other guy from that T.V. show, and it's about..." Rox: "Don't tell me! Let's just go." I felt a little like her this afternoon.

Written by Mark Poirier and directed by Noam Murro. the film is about an aging widowed college professor named, Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) who is pretty unhappy in his life. He is a professor wishing to be the head of the department, but doesn't seem to enjoy teaching, doesn't remember any of his students and has a book rejected over and over by publishers. He lives alone with his overly responsible, Republican teenage daughter, Vanessa (Ellen Page).


After an accident which renders him unable to drive, Lawrence asks his irresponsible, unemployed loafer brother, Chuck (Thomas Haden Church), to live with him to help the family out. He also discovers an old student of his who had a huge crush on him, his doctor, Janet Hartigan (Sarah Jessica Parker). Chuck helps shakes things up in the Wetherhold household and even gets uptight Vanessa to loosen up a bit, since she has taken the role of the caretaker a little too seriously after her mother's death. Lawrence begins dating Janet, but is pretty rusty at dealing with women.


It wasn't a terrible film. I felt like it was sort of trying to be like Little Miss Sunshine with its quirky, depressed, low key characters and their transformation arcs. I couldn't get lost in it, though. I love Sarah Jessica Parker normally, being a big Sex and the City fan, but it seemed like she phoned this one in. I realize the atmosphere was supposed to be low key and slow moving, but...come on. Page, Haden Church and Quaid were good, though, in an otherwise boring film. In all honestly, I can't even find or remember a good quote from the film to leave you with, so I'll just say......

More ramblings to come.......