Lofty and High-Minded: Smart People

Smart People
Directed by Noam Murro
Released April 11, 2008

"Smart People" is a film about the kind of knowledge that is only useful for taking the SATs or for having intelligent, sophisticated conversations. What the characters know does little to help them manage their daily lives or interactions with other people, a kind of street smarts that the film itself lacks.

Dennis Quaid, his face hidden by a dark beard, stars as disgruntled Carnegie Mellon professor Lawrence Wetherhold who, as one student says, teaches little and then is disappointed when his students turn in substandard work. Lawrence's son James shuns the family and sees it as depressing, while his daughter Vanessa secludes herself from the rest of the world to bolster her grades and participate in Young Republican causes. Lawrence's adopted brother is a lazy, unemployed and unmotivated moocher.

None of the characters are remotely likable. Last year's "Margot at the Wedding" was a failure mainly because it was impossible to sympathize with any of the characters, especially Nicole Kidman in the title role. "Smart People" has far less subtext and thought behind it than "Margot," which it expects to get away with by being a comedy. The film has laughs, but they are sparse and hardly fulfilling.

This film is full of good actors whose respectable talents are not represented here and whose skills cannot make their characters any less detestable. Quaid, who may well be past his prime, evokes only slightly more emotion than in the recent film "Vantage Point" and fails to infuse much personality into the stern professor. Sarah Jessica Parker, whose singular appeal has worked in films like "Miami Rhapsody" and the popular "Sex and the City" series, is whiny and bland as a former student of Lawrence's who harbors inexplicable feelings for him. Thomas Haden Church, who returned to the spotlight in 2004 with a remarkable performance in "Sideways," contributes nothing as Lawrence's brother other than a hilariously terrible mustache.

And then there is Ellen Page, whose roles in "Hard Candy" and "Juno" have earned her universal praise. She tries to make daughter Vanessa into a viable character, but the material she is given to work with is just not strong enough, and it is as if she is simply playing a less interesting version of Juno.

"Smart People" flaunts its knowledge and vocabulary, but its predictable and repetitive script is aimless. Instead of achieving some sort of self-realization, the movie falls flat. Juno, of all people, would not be satisfied with such cliché.

D-