User reviews

Smart People - Smart People had a 46% on Rotten Tomatoes, but it's far better than that. Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennie Quaid) is a "holier than thou" widowed professor you unfortunately meet once in awhile. He's the sort who's deeply invested in his subject but can neither make it accessible nor allow the students any time to discuss it. He's a brilliant asshole essentially. He meets a physician in a hospital after a head injury and begins to reevaluate his life and his happiness. He has a dead-beat brother-in-law (Thomas Haden Church who steals every scene he's in), a daughter (Ellen Page) who is a young Ann Coulter in the making, and a son (Ashton Holmes) to whom he never talks.

This film is quite funny! Page and Church were definitely the stand-outs, but I appreciated Dennis Quaid and Sarah Jessica Parker, two actors who I rarely ever have liked. It deals with a couple familiar rom-com problems (pregnancy, the "other woman" thing), but the film never feels overly sentimental or cliché. It's satisfying watching Quaid's character get some richly deserved socks to the stomach once in awhile, but you're with him anyway by the end. The humor is a little on the biting cold side, which goes well with my tastes, maybe not with some. Smart People overstays it's welcome a bit near the end, but a good movie overall.

B.

When I saw "Smart People" the trailer, I have to say that the first thought that came into my mind is "Sideways: Part 2". It had the same formula and characters. But I really wasn't as into Sideways as everyone else was, so I wasn't so excited to see this movie. But today I just decided to go ahead and give it a chance, I'm more grown up since I've seen Sideways, so why not just see what the film had to offer? I have to say while the movie does not excite me, I also see it doesn't excite too many people here on IMDb, it's a decent enough movie and worth the watch. The solid performances make the film likable and the story is interesting to watch, while it's not something that everyone can relate too, it's a good movie.

Lawerance is a college professor who isn't the most popular guy on campus, he's pompous, arrogant, and puts himself higher above his students while ignoring their plea's for extra help on assignments. His son hates him, his daughter admires him and is quite the over achiever, and his adopted brother is a scam artist. But when Lawerance has an accident while jumping fence, he hits his head, and meets former student, Janet Hartigan. They start to date, his daughter, Vanessa, goes through her life realizing she's never really had fun, and his adopted brother, Chuck needs this family just as much as Lawerance needs it.

Smart People, the major problem is that this was advertised as a comedy, it has some funny moments, but they're not what you would call laugh out loud. I'd say this is more of a drama with comedic elements, kind of like "Dan in Real Life", so Smart People didn't have "Smart Advertisement", but the movie is worth the watch. I would recommend it, it's an interesting film, not thrilling, so I would recommend probably waiting for the rental. But the cast pulls the movie together and makes it into a good drama.

7/10

The anti-social and bitter widower Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) is an egocentric and pompous man that is unpopular among his students and colleagues, and model for his teenager daughter Vanessa (Ellen Page), who is lonely and outcast in her school. His son James (Ashton Holmes) studies in the same college where he teaches and has little communication with his father. Lawrence is unsuccessfully trying to publish a provocative book and is disputing the position of Head of English Department, while Vanessa has applied to Stanford. When Lawrence has a serious concussion followed by seizure jumping a fence in a silly accident, Dr. Janet Hartigan (Sarah Jessica Parker) does not allow him to drive for six months. Lawrence does not recognize Janet, who was his student and had a crush on him. Lawrence hires his unemployed stepbrother Chuck (Thomas Haden Church) as his driver and he moves to Lawrence's house. Further, Lawrence dates Janet but he has not dated any woman since the death of his wife, and his dinner completely fails. However, Janet and Chuck change the behavior of Lawrence and he discovers that even smart people need to learn and move on.

The dramatic "Smart People" is a nice romance with realistic characters and sitcoms. The viewer that watches this movie expecting a silly comedy or a conventional romantic comedy misguided by the trailer may be disappointed with the witty lines related to relationship, instead of empty jokes. Dennis Quaid, Ellen Page, Thomas Haden Church and Sarah Jessica Parker are perfectly cast for their roles and their performances of human characters are fantastic. Wait for the credits to see pictures with the conclusion of the story. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Vivendo e Aprendendo" ("Living and Learning")

A low-budget comedy/drama set in and around the city of Pittsburgh, "Smart People" is so muted and laidback in its demeanor and tone that it practically borders on the innocuous. Yet, it is just that seeming banality that makes the movie work in the long run.

A pot-bellied Dennis Quaid plays a snarling, insensitive English Literature professor who's pretty much gone to seed in both his personal and professional life, a character not too far removed from the one played by Michael Caine in "Educating Rita." Lawrence Wetherhold is still so devastated by the death of his wife that he keeps all her clothes hanging in the bedroom closet as a sort of unholy shrine to the dearly departed woman. Needless to say, Lawrence hasn't made any great strides moving on with his life - until, that is, he strikes up a tentative romance with a physician and former student of his (Sarah Jessica Parker) who helps him to begin that too long delayed process of reconnecting himself to the world.

There's nothing particularly original or earth-shattering in this umpteenth tale of a burnt-out teacher finding a renewal of commitment and purpose in his profession, but writer Mark Poirier has provided enough in the way of ancillary details of character and plotting to at least keep matters interesting.

Ellen Page, for instance, plays Lawrence's overly possessive daughter, Vanessa, a college-bound Young Republican who's more obsessed with earning a perfect score on her SATs than with establishing meaningful friendships with people her own age. Thomas Hayden Church portrays her adoptive Uncle Chuck, a black sheep wastrel who, in point of contrast, makes even Lawrence look like a paragon of togetherness and success. Yet, despite his own troubles and failings, Chuck is the one who tries to get his niece to loosen up a bit and finally start enjoying life.

Together these characters drift through life, making wry observations on their situations and relationships on their way to a happy ending.

There may be a few too many musical montage sequences for the movie's own good, but the expository scenes, as directed by Noam Murro and performed by the actors, nicely capture the unhurried rhythms and simple ironies of everyday life.

I've just seen this film and read a number of reviews about it. Many reviewers are referencing 'Little Miss Sunshine', 'The Family Stone', etc. But I left the theatre thinking of the wonderful, beautifully balanced and developed, fun film, 'The Accidental Tourist'--another film about an emotionally deadened, difficult man who is suffering from the loss of a loved one and is 'redeemed' through love. Talk about quirky families; the one in 'Tourist' puts most of the rest to shame. The difference perhaps in the quality of these films (Tourist very high, Smart People quite low, many others in the 'genre' somewhere inbetween) lies in that The Accidental Tourist was based on the highly crafted, moving novel of the same title by the gifted writer Anne Tyler. What stands out for me again and again as I work up my courage to attend recent releases is that the quality of screenplay writing in Hollywood and elsewhere is low, low, low. Rushed, pressured, unbaked--too many films being made too fast, with scripts that bore and confuse us with unconvincing plots and thin characters. This film, Smart People, could have been--with revision and review--a much better, more engaging, moving picture. The script simply wasn't ready for production; the story isn't there.

Not for your average movie-goer, this one. Although the situation is teed up nicely for a typical feel-good ensemble gush-fest, it resists that temptation and takes you to a place where the characters are not, although they seem to need it, ready for rehab. It has an easy, rambling style that gradually rather than gratuitously opens their world to us without (for the most part) overly relying on hackneyed situations and gimmicks (although Quaid's insistence on keeping his wifes clothing was not one of them). In fact, the situations portrayed are so dark and lo- keyed that I wondered if this movie could have been made without the ready-made typecast qualities of Quaid, Haden-Church and Parker. ...Gritty Pittsburgh backdrop in a very real academic surrounding adds to the slice-of-life tone.

"These children haven't been properly parented in many years. They're practically feral. That's why I was brought in." Chuck Wetherhold (Thomas Haden Church)

I know smart. My college-professor colleagues are smart, with the usual trade off of occasional neuroticism. My kids are smart, with the usual emotional distance and independence that accompany eccentricity. So Noam Murro's Smart People, about a widower professor of literature, and his brainy family initially put me off with its dysfunctional crew, but as I slowly gave myself to the cynicism and inhumanity, I realized this crazy world was one I know well, and well is it depicted in its humor and pathos.

Although Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) is tenured at Carnegie Mellon and on the brink of having a book accepted for publication, he is surly to everyone else, even his young students and his feckless adopted brother, Chuck (Thomas Haden Church), and unhappy with himself, in large part, it would seem, because of the untimely death of his talented wife that allows him to wallow unchecked in self pity. Quaid's interpretation borders on annoying, so unremittingly curmudgeonly does he play it.

Former student and head of ER at a local hospital, Dr. Janet Hartigan (Sarah Jessica Parker), has the potential to pull him out of his funk if his devoted, brilliant, and acerbic daughter Vanessa (Ellen Page) can't. Why Hartigan is attracted to him is never established, and why Parker would accept such a thankless, underdeveloped role is a mystery.

This anti-Little Miss Sunshine and close relative to Royal Tenenbaums beats all quirky family comedy/dramas for pure cynicism. However, that very dark tone throughout, even down to the somewhat contrived denouement, is the film's strength. The reality is that depressed, smart people don't immediately change; they slowly if at all join the brotherhood of man by accepting our faults, as simple as upgrading worthy student papers or asking personal questions of those students or a date.

Noah Baumbach needn't fear: Smart People is nowhere near as smart or glib as Squid and the Whale and Life Aquatic, but it brings a new dimension to the quirky family genre: honesty and gloom that translate into an enjoyable date with a dysfunctional family that's a lot like our arguably functional ones.

This movie was made before "Juno," but remained on the shelf. It is clear now why--- it's just not very good. Ellen Page's Oscar nomination, and her incredible performance in "Juno" got some studio to do some thinking. "Aha!" they probably thought,"Here's a way to cash in her new found fame, and unload this turkey." The studio peeps were, in fact very smart people. The movie, however, is rather dull and depressed.

It was interesting to hear Page's perky "smart alec" voice in a character she played before "Juno." It indicates that much of what she showed us in "Juno" was HER, and not mere dialogue or direction.

Alas, the characters in "Smart People," especially Dennis Quaid's, were scruffy dim-bulbs, and not very pleasant, not admirable, nor watchable.

Bottom line, this clunker had sat unreleased and in the warehouse for a reason. It's not pure rubbish, but it comes mighty close. Its release now is pure commercial opportunism. Avoid it if you can!

"Smart People" isn't a laugh clinic it's more of a film that's written very sharp and the lines are witty and intelligent. And the themes of characterization dominate much of the movie as each face a problem during their life. And this film really shows and proves that each and every person no matter how smart or dumb they are learn something as they go. The cast is super with veterans Quaid, Parker, and Church who give steady and seasoned performances and it blends well with Page's witty and fresh intelligent turn.

Dennis Quaid is Lawrence Wetherhold a literature professor at a Pittsburgh, PA university who's a cultured yet uptight and lonely social misfit who still misses his deceased wife. One of the things that keeps him going is his witty and smart as could be daughter Vanessa(Ellen Page) who knows everything from politics to pop culture she also has a sharp tongue she's certainly a joy to listen to(much like Page's "Juno" character). Also he's just taken in his lonely and confused stepbrother Chuck(Thomas Haden Church)who does provide him some emotional support. Much of that changes for the better thru bad fate after Lawrence suffers a concussion and once he discovers after his treatment from ER doctor Janet(Sarah Jessica Parker)that she was once an ex student a friendship develops into love.

Along the way the film focuses in on each characters good points and their negatives as each learn the good and bad points along the way about one another. Ending in a surprise as this films proves no matter how intelligent or smart a person is they can always learn from life's lessons and by making mistakes unexpected joys and happiness may arrive. You learn life as you go. This film is nothing great, but okay for the way it's witty and focuses on different characterizations and it proves each must learn and the performances are well from the veterans topped off by Page's wit.

If anyone is interested in carefully constructed family stories with touches of humor, sadness, and sincerity, then this film is NOT YOUR BAG. Although publicized as such, "Smart People" lacks the artistic, sensitive type of portrayal that made Tenenbaums and Squid and the Whale so successful.

The protagonists of the film traverse life-altering, "aha!" moments without any explanation or follow through. What seems like crucial developments in character and plot are simply not sold to us as real; we as an audience see no REASON for the character's change of heart or decisions. With protagonists as unlikeable and unbelievably mean-for-no-reason as Quaid and Parker's characters, I need to be able to identify with their thought processes, if not sympathize with them on some human level.

Unfortunately, this film fell short of the subtle, nicely intelligent humour I came to see in a movie titled "Smart People". We're left with heavy-handed dialogue and implausible characters with a laughable plot. Since when did the New Yorker accept poems from undergraduates at Carnegie Mellon?? Agents, beware: your services are no longer needed. The literary world has gone unsolicited.

An indie comedy about a quirky family of self-hating misfits. We've seen this before, am I right? Well, so what, I say. When it's done well, I don't care too much whether the concept has been done before. And Smart People is done quite well. Dennis Quaid stars as a college professor and widower who hasn't been out with a woman since his wife died an unspecified (but long) amount of time ago. He lives alone with his daughter (Ellen Page). He has a son who goes to the same college at which he teaches and an adopted brother (Thomas Haden Church) who likes to mooch off of him. After an accident, Church moves in with Quaid and Page. Quaid also meets a former student (Sarah Jessica Parker), now a doctor, who had a crush on him. They start to date. The plot isn't anything special, but the dialogue is witty and the relationships are well observed. And this is also a case of fine actors who make something merely serviceable into something special. Quaid has never been better. My feeling about his work as an actor is that he is very uneven. He can be excellent, such as in The Right Stuff, but usually he's adequate, and often, perhaps too often, he's awful. But this is definitely one of the excellent performances. Church has kind of a sitcommy role, but that's fitting for an actor who was really good in sitcoms. He's hilarious here, too. A lot of the time, I was thinking of the movie as somewhat akin to a sitcom, but a good sitcom. There have been such things, you know. Page, fresh off her star-making turn as Juno (though Smart People was filmed earlier), is an actress I've liked in a couple of movies I disliked (Juno and Hard Candy). Finally, a movie with her that I actually like! Feels good. And she's great in it. The character is similar to Juno, but not quite so despicably precious. I like how the writer and director invite the audience to dislike all four of the major characters, at least a bit. They are recognizable people, which is, unfortunately, a rarity in movies. I liked the movie, and recommend it.

Many people here started with the cast and unavoidable and unfortunate references to Juno. Well... so am I... Anyway, I think that bringing very well known actors into the film carried expectations in the wrong direction. The real hero here is the story, not any particular character.

You have this emotionally withdrawn university professor who no one likes and is a jerk to anyone just because he is still hurt inside by the death of his wife. His daughter is trying to clone him as much as possible while the brother went rebellious. What else can fix this dysfunctional family but love?

There is nothing flashy about the performances, but then again, it shouldn't be, given the plot. The ending is not something one can really spoil, you can see it coming a long way. The comedic part is not very funny, because it wasn't supposed to be a funny story. So in the end you are left with the story, which is something one can and must feel in order to enjoy the movie.

I think the best quote in the movie was "You sound like a stupid motivational speaker!". It perfectly describes the movie, as a story anyone thinks they've heard before, but that itself doesn't make it less real or true.

This film is about a smart college professor who has no clue about dating or caring for his family.

I hoped "Smart People" to be funny and entertaining, but unfortunately it was boring. Lawrence's inability to charm women is not entertaining or interesting. I find the story rather poorly developed, especially the relationship between Lawrence and Janet. The difference between their first date and the second date is so contrived and unconvincing. There is no reason to believe that Lawrence has improved so much after just a few words of advice. The relationship between Lawrence and his family is not engaging either. The characters are so hollow and unlikeable, and they are only there to deliver lines. It is a good cast completely wasted. I am disappointed by this film.

(Plot) A widowed professor falls in love (Sarah Jessica Parker) but his daughter (Ellen Paige) is very disobedient and beats to her own drum. He also has to deal with an unwarranted visit from his annoying brother (Thomas Haden Church)

I don't remember much about this movie, but I do remember that it was a decent film, and refreshingly unorthodox. It has a quirky style to it, and I got into it for the most part. It also helps that it has an A + cast. Ellen Paige is one of my favorite up and coming actresses and her snarky performance delighted me. I dug her obsession with fancy words. It also had a great contrast in personality with Paige & Jessica Parker. Parker is a rather subdued personality compared to her, and the way they clashed gave me some chuckles. Dennis Quaid is a tad unsympathetic, but fantastic nonetheless. You'll like him, because you won't be able to help it. Haden Church is a hoot in his role

Final Thoughts: I kinda liked it. Its quirky style may not appeal to others, but those tired of the same Hollywood drivel will find stuff to like about it. Worth a watch

6/10

PLEASE WATCH THIS and respond to my review because I don't know what to do! There is so much potential but what's the point?!?! I first saw this around ten years ago thinking, "Wow! What a cast! SJP! Ellen Page! ?-?-?-Church, even Dennis Quaid can recover from The Parent Trap - an ensemble cast? Sure!" Over a decade later in January 2022, I'm left wondering how many times the word "retard" - yes, in many contexts - is used and how sexual/gender confusion fits into whatever this haphazard plot and wannabe ensemble cast are even doing on a screen together. If the message is that life is messy, then I think that's accomplished simply by the messy script and sloppy ensemble. At the ending, when secrets and what-the-hells are revealed and people changed, I can say that for the first time EVER that I would really like to see the sequel to this movie! I've never thought that before!!! I at least admitted it! Hahahah!!! Perhaps a sequel would be worthwhile for maybe the third (?) time in the history of film 😆 Again, someone help me figure out this movie!

The deadpan tone of this movie doesn't seem like it would work, but it does. The lead actors really draw you in, but Thomas Haden Church steals the show, in my opinion.

This movie isn't bad, not at all. But, it's not GREAT either. It does it's thing very easily and cordially throughout with no really unexpected twists and some pretty blah acting. Not bad, just blah.

I liked Ellen Page better in Juno, probably because it was better written. THC stole all the scenes he was in, and even that should tell you something.

The story was okay, I just found myself bored throughout.... but then again.... I just watched Street Kings so......

Go see this if you don't want to have to think too hard, it hands everything to you on a nice serving platter.... and it's already cut into bite size pieces for you. Enjoy.

Interesting story about relationships with good portrayals by Denis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ellen Page and Thomas Church.

This film isn't the laugh riot that the trailers made it out to be… with that said, that is the reason I gave this film a low score. If you are looking for comedy, only a few scenes deserve a chuckle. I would have still gone to this movie if they edited a truthful preview.

THC is always awesome and with out his portrayal of the uncle I think this film would have really bombed with out him. I was slight disappointed in EP but she was probably fresh off her Juno movie (awesome BTW) which is probably why I felt she had a little bit of her Juno character in there.

It was an OK slice of life film with pompous characters that everyone has encountered at some point in their lives. Well, I went in expecting a comedy but got a decent downer movie.

Smart People and Juno are alike in only in one way. They are both really good movies. The entire cast give great performances and this film has plenty of laughs. Thomas Haden Church and Ellen Page give sensational performances and have yet to disappoint me. The screenplay by Mark Poirier is very well written and deserves some attention that he will most likely not get. The film is very directed by newcomer Noam Nurro and any film he does its in good hands. Yeah I know thats there's a lot of films that are about ordinary people but its a plot thats never get old and always have great performances and laughs every time especially Smart People. Despite this film getting not that much praise, its a great film to see if you like those ordinary films that anything but ordinary.