Smart People DVD: Review By Dodd

There is something about the film Smart People that immediately had me sold when I saw the movie posters and the trailers. The title is called Smart People which leads me to assume that the humor can only be biting, satirical, and ...smart. The direction of the film presented in the trailers seemed to emanate a sense of dryness found previously in the films of Alexander Payne. And then there is the cast. The always charming Dennis Quaid, the likable doof Thomas Haden Church, and America's favorite pregnant teen Ellen Page, who would presumably be spouting off witty one-liners. How could this film not be funny? Perhaps one day I'll learn that, if all films were as reliable as the trailers, then all films would be good.

The film stars Dennis Quaid as an uppity professor named Lawrence who is widowed and raising his older children, played by Ellen Page and Ashton Holmes. Vanessa (Page) is a high school student aiming for a perfect score on the SAT who eerily takes after her pretentious father. James (Holmes) on the other hand is more into his hard-partying ways at college. As for Lawrence, he is a miserable man living in his self-centered miserable existence. He is the type of professor who believes that being intelligent means feeling a sense of superiority to the rest of the world because they cannot hold a 2-hour conversation about Proust (No I don't know who that is).

Lawrence's monotonous existence changes when he suffers from an injury and is unable to drive. Enter his slacker brother Chuck (Church) who needs a place to crash due to his financial situation. As it so happens, Lawrence needs someone to drive him around town. Things also change for Lawrence when he reunites with a former student (Sarah Jessica Parker) who happens to be his doctor at the hospital. Of course the question is posed as to whether or not a stuffy professor can open his heart and feel love for a woman, or for his no-good brother who is more interested in Doritos than Dostoevsky.

If you have not figured it out already, Smart People is one of those films about a stubborn protagonist who encounters characters around him and must ultimately decide if he is always going to be a prick, or if he has the will to change. In a sense, it is a bizarro parallel of As Good As It Gets. We are also nailed on the head with the point that someone as unintelligent as Chuck can be so much happier than Lawrence while Lawrence exists in his own wretched state of self-importance. I found Smart People to be a let-down because it plays on these cliches and never really goes for the jugular. Anyone who gets out into world knows that people like Lawrence exist and look down others as ants. We know that people such as this grow up unhappy and die unhappy in their dusty libraries. Dennis Quaid plays the character well, but with too much bitterness. If the film wanted to capitalize on this characterization, it may actually work. However, it tries to force this character into a romance that actually takes off. This is hard to swallow when it is painfully clear that Parker's character would not go on a second date with this man, let alone go out with him in the first place.

There is also a subplot on the side that feels more like a back burner premise. High schooler Vanessa gets to know her uncle and warm up to his carefree ways. This is to the point that she allows her uncle to get her intoxicated at a college bar. As much as I loved page in Juno and Hard Candy, she is not given a character to play that can add that touch of much-needed wit.

There is an average assortment of special features:

The Smartest People is the "smart" title for a feturette devoted to the filmmakers and cast involved in the film. Clocking in at 16 minutes, it does not devote too much time to detail, but it is better than your average puff piece. There is more understanding of the characters here than I think there is in the film itself. There is also a commentary track featuring director Noam Murro and writer Mark Jude Pourier. As always, these things fly a lot higher when you have plural contributors. After watching the film, I really was not in the mood for this track. Their tone is rather dry and quiet. This is not to say that it is not interesting, but it may put some people asleep.

The DVD also includes deleted scenes and a blooper reel.

Widescreen 2.36:1 The film has a cloudy look to it filmed in Philadelphia. Considering that the characters are not very sunny, the bland lighting and coloration is rather fitting.

Dolby Digital 5.1 There is not much to say about the sound. The film's score is more like background music that blends without notice.

The film is in a standard keep case with the principal cast members on the front cover. Is there a superfluous sleeve? You bet! There is nothing like a pointless sleeve that matches the cover to pointlessly include with the DVD for aesthetic reasons.

Smart People is a movie I highly anticipated and I wish I could suggest it, but this comedy falls flat in the end. The actors here deserve better material and the film itself has a bit of an identity crisis in deciding on a tone. I wish I believe that a character like Lawrence can become involved in a Hollywood romance plot, but the results are simply awkward. This is a forgettable film that may merit a rental, but certainly not the grand purchase.

dodd@movieweb.com