A film that would probably be admired 10 years ago, this dysfunctional family dramedy is a clear case of too little, too late despite a more than capable cast that includes Dennis Quaid, Ellen Page, Thomas Haden Church and Sarah Jessica Parker all playing to their respective strengths.
In the indie shadow of more defined works such as ‘Wonder Boys’, ‘The Squid and the Whale’, ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ and Page’s own ‘Juno’, one clearly gets the sense that novelist-turned-scenarist Mark Jude Poirier and commercial, first-time feature director Noam Murro set out to make a pic of the same ilk. Y’know, it is one of those Sundance premieres with relatively big-name stars throwing themselves in the now piss-filled, crowded waters of the indie wading pool.
The cast is certainly the high-point as we quickly find out. Dennis Quaid plays Lawrence Wetherhold, a widowed English-lit professor at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon who has become disenfranchised with his students, career and life in general. Admittedly self-absorbed and contemptuous to everybody unfortunate enough to cross his path, his latest literary work being rejected by all the publishers is yet another reason to mope through life.
His moods have been carried over to his daughter Vanessa (Ellen Page), a smarmy ‘Young Republican’ quick to point out how stupid classmates are and suffers a lonely life because of it. An escapee of sorts, his son James (Ashton Holmes), enrolled at the University seems to have embraced life a bit despite his father and sister’s best efforts.
The fourth cog in this un-oiled machine is Lawrence’s adoptive brother Chuck (Thomas Haden Church), a middle-aged, broke moocher surviving on stapling ads to phone poles but seems happier than all of them.
Showing up with no money, Chuck wants to crash for a while and comes in useful when Lawrence’s car is impounded and Lawrence suffers a head injury when trying to climb the fence to retrieve his briefcase from his impounded car. With Lawrence’s license taken away for six months, he very conveniently needs a driver for that time.
This leads to a romance with ER Dr. Janet Hartigan (Sarah Jessica Parker), a former student of Lawrence’s who had had a schoolgirl crush. With his wife long dead, Lawrence is expectedly rusty at the dating game and this relationship hits more than a few road bumps all the while Vanessa develops a friendship of sorts with middle-aged but still rebellious Chuck who sees Vanessa as a teenage girl in dire need of some loosening up.
The film is essentially driven by these two subplots that intersect at points but not much else happens. The chemistry between Quaid and Parker is a bit forced but Page and Church find some affable ground. Holmes’ James barely registers a blip as does any other character outside of the main four.
It’s a competent film to be sure and sporadically enjoyable due to the game cast but the pic never escapes the rather stale plot developments and is never as witty as the dialogue would want you to believe. Crucially, the emotion is ho-hum.
Presented in a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, the pic looks fine for a new standard-def release. Intentionally muted, drab colors were used here to convey a coldness and detachment in the characters and it suits the tone of the film appropriately. Special Features start off with an audio commentary from writer Mark Jude Poirier and director Noam Murro with the usual bit of anecdotes and tidbits. Fascinating to learn that the pic was shot in only 29 days – maybe another reason why big-name stars are always on the look-out.
We get ‘The Smartest People’, a sixteen-minute collection of interviews from cast and crew, nine ‘Deleted Scenes’, a blooper reel ‘Not So Smart’ and ‘Trailers’. Peculiarly, also included is a coupon to see upcoming theatrical release ‘Blindness’ for free using a coupon code.
A film that works best as a mild comedy more than ardent observation on what defines happiness and intelligence, the cast do a nice job with the roles, particularly Quaid and Church, but there’s nothing here that hasn’t been seen before and better - a suitable rental for fans of the cast.
Smart People is now available at Amazon . It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a Sept. 15th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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