Smart People (Miramax Films)
Smart People Have Problems Too
Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ellen Page and Thomas Haden Church co-star in the warm and witty Smart People, a movie that never underestimates the intelligence of its audience. A clever script and solid performances make this a better movie than it should be. Its all about personalities and how they interact. There are no gun fights, no car chases; just a story about people growing up and becoming better.
The person at the center of the story is English Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Quaid). Lawrence is a widower with two children. He has a son James (Ashton Holmes) who is in college. He has a daughter Vanessa (Page) who is a senior in high school. They are all very smart people.
Lawrence also has an adopted brother Chuck (Church) who does not appear to be as bright as the rest of the family. He comes to see Lawrence to ask for a handout, as he is between jobs. Lawrence says no but then hires him to be his driver after he suffers a seizure.
The seizure also causes him to end up in the Emergency Room where he is treated by Dr. Janet Hartigan (Parker). It turns out she is one of his former students and actually had a crush on him. Lawrence awkwardly asks Janet out and a shaky relationship develops between them. For some reason Janet is able to see beneath his gruff exterior.
The movie is all about the relationships between these five people and how they grow and emerge. It is purely personality driven with no action sequences to liven things up. The script is smart and funny, and the characters are human and warm. This is one of the rare movies of late that actually develops the characters and lets the audience feel as though they know and understand them.
Quaid shines in his role as Lawrence. This is the most non typical Quaid role he has ever played. He has a full beard in this movie and looks professorial down to the paunch around his waist. Plus he has a strange shuffling type of walk. Still nothing can hide the trademark twinkle in Quaids eyes and you can see why Dr. Hartigan could fall for this man.
Parker is adorable as the easy to love Dr. Hartigan. She and Quaid make a good match on screen. She uses her character to humanize his. Church is absolutely hilarious as the neer do well Chuck. His character interacts mostly with Pages and the two of them are a dynamic duo.
Page won our hearts as Juno and now does it all over again as Vanessa. This young actress has a bright future ahead of her as she enhances each and every role she undertakes.
The film is rated R for profanity and brief nudity.
Smart People is an out of the ordinary movie that works because of its sensible and surprising script as well as its perfectly cast actors. All of them are good but it is Page who steals the show.
If you want to see a film that will make you think and will also steal your heart, then Smart People is it. It might even raise your IQ.
I scored Smart People a Mensa 7 out of 10.
