Smart People

by KYW's Bill Wine

"We're smart people," says a character in Smart People, "we can figure it out."

Maybe.

But there's no dumbing down for the audience of Smart People, a cerebral seriocomedy set in academia exhibiting behavior so dumb, it smarts. This is a movie about a dysfunctional family that wants you to think, "If these people are smart, imagine the mistakes that dumb people make." And you do.

Dennis Quaid plays a widowed professor of Victorian literature at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University. Still depressed by the loss of his wife a decade ago and stung by the recent industrywide rejection of his latest scholarly book, he's pretty much camped out at the intersection of Disinterestville and Grumpyland at this late stage of his academic career.

While recovering from a concussion, the jaded and self-absorbed prof begins a tentative romance with the emergency room doctor who tends to him, played by Sarah Jessica Parker. She's a former student of his, it just so happens, who used to have a crush on him. But he, of course, who gave her a C, doesn't even remember her.

Anyway, before you can say "sex in the univer-city," they're a couple.

Ellen Page (near right), as Quaid's uptight 17-year-old daughter, a know-it-all high school senior and Young Republican who shares her dad's contempt level and condescends to nearly everyone around her, doesn't approve of dad's new girlfriend. Her older brother (Ashton Holmes), an aspiring poet, lives in the CMU dorm, but has virtually nothing to do with, or say to, his dad.

And Thomas Haden Church (far right) is Quaid's adopted brother, a cash-strapped ne'er-do-well who drops in -- no, make that moves in -- unexpectedly. His brother would ask him not-so-politely to leave, but, because he's not allowed to get behind the wheel for the next few months, needs him as a driver.

With the professor pretty much preoccupied with his new romantic involvement, chauffeur- slacker- opportunist- bro begins hanging out with his niece, calling her an android, drinking and smoking with her, and hoping to lighten and loosen her up a little as she comes of age. To say that she misinterprets her step-uncle's signals and intentions is to understate the case, as their relationship spills over into a quadrant so inappropriate, it is simultaneously yucky and intriguing and highly amusing.

Debuting director Noam Munro works from a screenplay by novelist Mark Jude Poirier, whose crisp dialogue is consistently smug but smart-mouthed, in both meanings of that idiom. This is a movie that's as much fun to listen to as it is to watch.

Munro, with an award-winning background in commercials, avoids the trap so many of his similarly trained colleagues fall into: pacing feature-film scenes breathlessly, as if they were one-minute ads. Instead, his is a relaxed approach; he lets the scenes breathe and the actors register their quirks, dig for nuance, and shine.

The ensemble quartet is in fine form, each well cast and responsive to the script's needs. But it's Thomas Haden Church who steals the film, so winning and full of lovable-loser charm that he makes us miss his presence during scenes that don't involve him. He's a big part of the reason (Ms. Page is another) that the fascinating uncle-niece subplot nearly upsets the narrative balance, striking us as a more interesting than the Quaid-Parker one, and pulling focus from the central storyline.

Audiences will be reminded of writer-director Noah Baumbach's The Squid and the Whale, with which it shares a focus on family dynamics and pomposity. Wonder Boys, with Michael Douglas as another published Pittsburgh professor, also comes to mind. As will Juno, and not just because Ellen Page is on hand.

Smart People is, then, the kind of casual entertainment that allows you to think about other movies it resembles without ever tuning out the one right in front of you.

So we'll smarten up 3 stars out of 4 for this intelligent, well-acted divertissement that's not fully satisfying but that is both funny and pleasurable. Get smart, people: see Smart People.

Archive

Print Page

Email This Page

KYW Movie Podcasts: Hear Every One!

Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 11/06/09
This week KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine look at the comedy-war film, "The Men Who Stare at Goats," the animated re-make, "A Christmas Carol," and the horror-mystery-thriller "The Fourth Kind." (18:45)

Movie Reviews - Week of 11/2/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "The Men Who Stare at Goats", "A Christmas Carol" and "The Fourth Kind". (3:01)

Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 10/30/09
KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at the Chris Rock documentary, "Good Hair," Michael Jackson's "This is It," and the action-crime-drama "The Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day." (17:43)

Movie Reviews - Week of 10/26/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "Good Hair", "This Is It" and "Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day". (3:00)

Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 10/23/09
KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at the animated adventure "Astro Boy," the bio-drama"Amelia," and the action-adventure-comedy "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant." (17:20)

Movie Reviews - Week of 10/19/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "Astro Boy", "Amelia" and "Cirque du Freak - The Vampires Assistant". (3:00)

Movie Reviews - Week of 10/12/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies 'New York, I Love You', 'Law Abiding Citizen' and 'Where the Wild Things Are'. (3:00)

Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 10/09/09
KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story," the comedy "Couple's Retreat," and the drama, "The Boys Are Back." (19:23)