Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0858479/
From the producer of Sideways -- get to know a lovable yet dysfunctional family everyone can relate to in this lighthearted comedy People calls "smart and enjoyable." When Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) -- a widowed and self-absorbed professor -- falls for his attractive former student (Sex And The City's Sarah Jessica Parker), his all-too-predictable life suddenly turns sunny-side up. That is, until his freeloading brother (Thomas Haden Church) and his sharp-tongued overachieving daughter (Juno's Ellen Page) speak up, making "chaos" the word of the day. Now on DVD, Smart People is even funnier with never-before-seen interviews, deleted scenes and hilarious outtakes.
A self-absorbed college professor lost sight of the need to be sensitive of other people and their feelings when his wife died. Raising his daughter on his own has been difficult, but she's growing up just like her dad. And no, that is not a good thing. (He has a son, too, but he seems at least relatively well adjusted. So this movie is not about him.) The professor's dead-beat brother moves in with them and tries to give perspective to both the professor and his daughter.
Apparently there is a new formula in small-budget, independent comedies. What do you add to a pretentious lead character to create comedy? Thomas Hayden Church. It worked in Sideways, and it worked again here. He is the down-on-his-luck brother who weasles his way in to free room and board. While staying with his brother and niece he shakes them out of old habits and tries to implore them to take control and live their lives free from societal pressures to be something they do not want to be. Sounds heavy, but it wasn't that bad.
This was Ellen Page's big follow-up to Juno. I don't think this was what people were hoping for. As the professor's daughter she brought all of the attitude of Juno with none of the charm.
Dennis Quaid is our nutty professor, our single father. I like Mr. Quaid. I think that his often-exasperated mannerisms are enjoyable, almost Jack Nicholson-esque at times. I find comfort in his schtick, I guess. He was sometimes frustrating, but otherwise good yet again.
Smart People could have been called "Boring People and the Brother," but that is probably less marketable. This is an okay movie with a good cast. And the overall feel of the movie was saved by Thomas Hayden Church. I don't want to give him a reputation he cannot live up to, but the small resurgence in his career has been worthwhile for me.
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said on : 01/14/10 @ 12:21
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