Prismark10 A sideways look at at household of smart people and you come away thinking that they also have dysfunctional lives.Dennis Quaid is Doctor Wetherhold a misanthropic literature professor at a Pittsburgh University.He loves literature but has lost his passion teaching it and lost his passion in writing. Maybe because he is so up himself that no one reaches his high standard apart from his robotic, young Republican daughter who is friendless.His son who shows gift as a writer has little to do with him and Wetherhold has been living a lonely life since his wife died and would be regarded as a social misfit.When he suffers a fall Wetherhold is treated in ER by a former student (Sarah Jessica Parker) and he takes his first tentative steps to reacquaint himself with life out there.When his adopted brother (Thomas Haden Church) turns up who is a bit of a waster, he ends up chauffeuring Wetherhold around and loosens up his daughter by introducing her to drink and drugs but she has a crush on him.The film is a melodrama with some humour provided mainly by Church. Its an independent film taking a sideways look at an intellectual family who are a little in the deep end. Church plays someone who is a little bit too much like his character in Sideways and both him and Quaid have some bad facial hair. They should had grown real moustaches or beards.

willadena7777 So basically, they just told Ellen Page & Sarah Jessica Parker to be themselves and for Dennis Quaid to go watch a few episodes of House (if he hadn't already) and be Hugh Laurie's character for Smart People. If it hadn't been for Uncle Chuck, played by Thomas Haden Church, this movie would have pretty much totally sucked for me. But then, i'm a Cheech & Chong fan and always loved Reverend Jim on Taxi too, so forget about it. I also think Ashton Holmes did well in this and deserved more recognition than he got. I will also say that Smart People has some pleasant scenery and a sweet score, always a plus.... and it does have a decent ending. The fact that some obviously dysfunctional stuff going on in the character's lives gets at all addressed makes it bearable to watch. Worth seeing one time, but not what i'd call a keeper.

Susan This is a comparatively slow-moving film which takes time to explore what teaching for a long time in a university can do to some professors, and what roles single parenting can sometimes mistakenly dissolve into for both parents and their children.The role of the long-suffering, self-contained, in need of renewal/sabbatical/analysis professor was particularly well- written and acted: Dennis Quaid did a great job in this film and, as a viewer, I rarely remembered that he was acting: his demeanor, his stance, his wardrobe, his droning voice--even his eye contact--were just right.As usual, Haden-Church was the actor who made the movie zing. His "just one step out of this dimension" attitude and usual attention to perfection in his acting was a delight. He's one of our great character actors.Ellen Page compels the viewer to watch her delightful portrayal--though I am not yet willing to concede that she is one with her role yet. I continue to enjoy watching her thorough and she is going to be a great actress.I recommend this film highly for thoughtful viewers who enjoy digging into time, place and characters. It's pace is not brisk, but its rewards are great.

Rodrigo Amaro People are complicated. Sometimes there's people who are funny, people who are boring, people who are popular and people who don't. And there's smart people and there's dumb people (whatever that means). And then there's a movie called "Smart People", a movie about complicated persons trying to make things easy (or not). A simple conversation can be too difficult even to a Literature teacher (played by Dennis Quaid) whose arrogance, egocentricity and lack of attention make him forget the name of his students, ignore the fact that his son (Ashton Holmes) buys expensive books and that his daughter (Ellen Page) is trying to enter into a college. And worst: he's a widower man that after an accident falls in love for her medical doctor (Sarah Jessica Parker). And even more worst: while recovering from this accident his adopted brother (Thomas Haden Church) starts to live in his house. If you are only reading the names of the actors here you might want to see this film right now but I tell you: If you think you're going to like it or it's a good movie think again. To call "Smart People" of a boring movie is to diminish its potential. I say that this movie hasn't anything new to show besides of being a compilation of several different movies together that didn't make a good one. All the characters are egoistic, intelligent but with no regards about other people's interest. To them everything is motive of laugh. Too much sarcasm and too much black humor didn't worked at all. Ellen Page is becoming type-casted as sarcastic characters who delivers awkward punchlines after other just like in "Juno" (excellent film by the way). It was annoying. Dennis Quaid's character was too overacted in his manners and in his intelligence. After all it's all boring persons making other people's life more boring but I'll say more. In life, intelligent (or smart if you prefer) are always put aside from other people. Many times they don't have enough skills to talk, skills to be popular, skills to say simple things rightly, and they're too shy to say something or when they say it sounds incomprehensible to some people. Okay, we've seen "The Revenge of the Nerds" and we know that's exactly how it works. But "Smart People" reduced its public by stating that smart people are ignorant and they must be ignored and they don't know how to have a good time, always putting themselves behind books and something similar, not to mention use sarcasm as a weapon. Wrong. There are cases and there are cases. What about people who has Asperger's Syndrome? What about people with social phobia? What about shy people? All these examples are ruthless, cold hearted and sarcastic? It was a too critical movie with no funny moments at all (perhaps one or two scenes). It also has a speech about change what you are. The uncle in the film always try to involve his niece into something new like smoke pot or go to a bar, because he thinks she's always studying to go to college and doesn't have too much time for fun. Or Dennis's character being repelled by Sarah Jessica in their first date because he only talks about himself and his career. Wait a minute. If you love someone you want to change this person? Can't you respect that person for what she or he is? Once again it judged some people too much and you might get depressed or annoyed with that. Screenplay: Bad. It didn't create any interesting situation whatsoever. Acting: Nothing spectacular or inspiring to see. Direction: Misguided and lost at some times. Movie: 4 stars because I've seen worst movies and this is just pointless and has some level of knowledge.