| SMART PEOPLE |
 2008 - USADirector: Noam Murro
- Reviewed by Linda
Lawrence parks his car sloppily in the campus parking lot, he avoids talking to his students, faking office hours, and believes he deserves to be the next head of the English Department, despite chairing the search committee to fill the position. His home life is disrupted when his adopted slacker brother Chuck (Thomas Haden Church) shows up after two years, wanting money, or at least a place to crash. Chuck's laid-back ways clash with Lawrence's droll and uptight Young Republican teenage daughter Vanessa (Ellen Page, chanelling a conservative Juno), who has been serving as a surrogate homemaker to her dad since the death of her mother. In the meantime, after an embarrassing accident trying to retrieve his impounded car one too many times, Lawrence meets a doctor named Janet (Sarah Jessica Parker), who, unsurprisingly is an ex-student of his that he can't remember, and, who, unsurprisingly, had a crush on him way back when. Smart People is basically about those folks who have all the brains, but not necessarily common sense. Chuck is not the brightest bulb of the family, but he is probably the most mentally healthy despite the fact that he can't hold a job, has no money, and no goals. Lawrence is self-absorbed, so much so that he is an intolerable dinner date when he finally goes out with the doctor. The doctor Janet may be brilliant, but leaves a trail of discarded men in her wake due to some sort of love 'em and leave 'em issues. And Vanessa is so uptight that once she gets a little release from her self-imposed order that she goes way overboard. This is one of those films about not much, but in a good way. The characters are flawed but not hateful, they're kind of miserable, but at least they have each other. They screw up, but thankfully all hell doesn't break loose. They are, basically, like many families or makeshift families. And considering the cast, it is not surprising that the acting is top-notch, even though some of the actors seem to be reprising similar roles (namely Page and Church). But it's the scenes between Ellen Page and Thomas Haden Church where the film really crackles. As uncle and niece—or as not-blood-related adopted uncle and young woman who is rebelling for the first time—they dance a dance between responsible adult taking a kid under his wing, and two kindred pals who could get into a lot of trouble if they don't watch out. Their scenes are loads of fun, even as the script takes their relationship to surprising places. Quaid and Parker are fine in their roles, but since I mostly wanted to slap both of their characters, I was pleased that the other pair's plot filled out the film with a more unexpectedly enjoyable story. Smart People is good overall, but kinda great when Page and Church are on screen. |
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A curious niche in comedy/dramas seems to be the pompous-ass, fuddy-duddy, yet vaguely loveable professor paired up with the swirl of people around him (usually including a student with a crush) that put up with his eccentricities. After folks like Michael Douglas (in the Wonder Boys) and Jeff Daniels (in 