Smart People
Dennis Quaid plays Lawrence Wetherhold, a brilliant university professor who specialises in Victorian Literature. While he may be an intellectual whiz in this department, his abilities with his own family are another matter entirely. His teenage daughter (Ellen Page) reprises her Juno character as a motormouth who follows in her father’s misery-loving footsteps. His brother (Thomas Haden Church) is a good-for-nothing loser who turns up on Lawrence’s doorstep, expecting a place to stay. This and a chance meeting with an ex-student (Sarah Jessica Parker) prompts Lawrence to haul himself out of his middle-aged slump.
- Director:
- Noam Murro (feature debut)
- Writer:
- Mark Poirier
- Cast:
- Dennis QuaidSarah Jessica ParkerThomas Haden ChurchEllen Page
Reviews & comments
Variety
pressDysfunctional family seriocomedy is well cast, but characters and conflicts lack the sharper definition of similar recent exercises like "Little Miss Sunshine," "The Upside of Anger" and Noah Baumbach's films.
Time Magazine
pressThere's nothing world shattering about Smart People. No one is ever going to call it a "must see" movie. But it is a trim, intelligent, reasonably amusing little movie. Call it a "could see."
The New York Times
pressThe great virtue of Smart People, attributable to Noam Murro’s easygoing direction as well as to Mr. Poirier’s wandering screenplay, lies in its general preference for small insights over grand revelations.
Premiere Magazine
pressDennis Quaid is mostly lost at sea as Lawrence Wetherhold, the Carnegie Mellon lit professor; he apparently saw fit to tinker with his performance as filming went along, greeting us in some scenes as a noticeably swishy highbrow, while at other moments he's channeling the smiling, drunken menace of Nicholson's Jack Torrance.
New Zealand Herald
pressDennis Quaid is excellent as a grouchy professor whose frozen heart is melted in a film that is all character and no story.
Hollywood Reporter
pressPoirier is a master at dialogue. His script crackles with sharp lines and he gives all his scenes a splendid comic undertow.
Empire Magazine
pressStrong performances and a few laughs, but the story feels lazy next to superior efforts recently in the same genre.
Variety
pressDysfunctional family seriocomedy is well cast, but characters and conflicts lack the sharper definition of similar recent exercises like "Little Miss Sunshine," "The Upside of Anger" and Noah Baumbach's films.
Time Magazine
pressThere's nothing world shattering about Smart People. No one is ever going to call it a "must see" movie. But it is a trim, intelligent, reasonably amusing little movie. Call it a "could see."
The New York Times
pressThe great virtue of Smart People, attributable to Noam Murro’s easygoing direction as well as to Mr. Poirier’s wandering screenplay, lies in its general preference for small insights over grand revelations.
Premiere Magazine
pressDennis Quaid is mostly lost at sea as Lawrence Wetherhold, the Carnegie Mellon lit professor; he apparently saw fit to tinker with his performance as filming went along, greeting us in some scenes as a noticeably swishy highbrow, while at other moments he's channeling the smiling, drunken menace of Nicholson's Jack Torrance.
New Zealand Herald
pressDennis Quaid is excellent as a grouchy professor whose frozen heart is melted in a film that is all character and no story.
Hollywood Reporter
pressPoirier is a master at dialogue. His script crackles with sharp lines and he gives all his scenes a splendid comic undertow.
Empire Magazine
pressStrong performances and a few laughs, but the story feels lazy next to superior efforts recently in the same genre.
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