Directed by:
Noam MurroScreenplay:
Mark PoirierCinematography:
Toby IrwinCast:
Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Haden Church, Elliot Page, Ashton Holmes, David Denman, Camille Mana, Christine Lahti, Robert Haley (more)Plots(1)
Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) is a brilliant, but grouchy, widowed English professor in the midst of a massive midlife crisis. He can't find a publisher for his book, he's forgotten how love works, and he's at a loss to understand his family. His son (Ashton Holmes) tells him nothing of his life at college, and his daughter (Ellen Page) is an acerbic-tongued overachiever. When his freeloading adoptive brother (Thomas Haden Church) shows up unexpectedly for an extended stay it looks like things might get even worse. Then Lawrence meets his former student Janet Cartigan (Sarah Jessica Parker) and his cold, cold heart begins to thaw. But how will the rest of the Wetherholds deal with this unexpected turn? (Icon Home Entertainment)
(more)Reviews (2)
A relaxing and somehow also nice and warm film that focuses on fixing a bitter, grumpy guy, but it has a lot of pluses that shouldn't make it fit in. First, there's Dennis Quaid, whose Professor Wetherhold is one of his best roles ever, then the trio of Thomas Haden Church, Ellen Page and Sarah Jessica Parker. Smart People is a sensitive film full of subtle humor that quickly won me over. It relies mainly on likeable protagonists, which it succeeds in doing. With all this, I give it four of the purest stars possible.
()
A modest, sweet, and very sensitive work. Smart People fits quite neatly into the concept of a charming, independent film through which we can learn, above all, something about ourselves. No need to discuss the fact that the ending is a "typical American happy ending"; what's important here is the journey towards an imaginary goal, the journey towards transforming into someone different, someone who doesn't live for the knowledge that they are better at something than others (even though maybe they really are). Of course, that's not the only message of this film: the character of Chuck, for example, represents the type of seemingly easygoing and almost carefree guy whose biggest problem (it appears) is to find a place to sleep and have something to live on the next day. Three characters (Sarah Jessica Parker is certainly good, but I don't count her among my "holy trinity" from this film), three extremely interesting personalities, and three actors who, without exception, give human performances, yet very convincingly and without any hint of forcedness. It was really quite remarkable how the whole story is presented in such a gentle and human way and how smoothly it manages to keep that up without any difficulty throughout the entire running time. Very nice.
()