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SUNDANCE 2008

Sundance Review: Smart People

by Alex Billington
January 26, 2008

US Release Date: April 11, 2008
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
MPAA: Rated R (for language, brief teen drug and alcohol use, and for some sexuality)
Running Time: 93 minutes
Directed by: Noam Murro
on IMDb
9/10

Anything with Ellen Page is usually guaranteed to be great, except maybe X-Men 3. Smart People is a surprisingly impressive, remarkably fun, and completely entertaining ensemble comedy. Even though the film is about a professor from Carnegie Mellon University, the college I attended, and was shot on the campus, I wasn't ready for the kind of great dialogue and quirky humor that Smart People is full of. It truly is a smart film with plenty to offer, including Thomas Haden Church's funniest performance since Sideways.

Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) is a widowed professor who teaches English at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His daughter (Ellen Page) is a perfectionist in her senior year of high school, his son (Ashton Holmes) is a brilliant poet attending CMU, and yet fails to acknowledge either. When he ends up in the hospital, he meets a lovely Doctor named Janet (Sarah Jessica Parker) and begins to fall for her, all while his bum brother Chuck (Thomas Haden Church) moves in with him.

Smart People's strength lies in its great script from Mark Poirier. Although the film is essentially about Wetherhold, the supporting characters, primarily his daughter Vanessa and brother Chuck, fill in any gaps that would have otherwise been left wide open in a boring film. Church's performance as Chuck is spot on, and like Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War, is the kind of character who you're waiting for to return to the screen so that you can laugh again. Out of almost any of the movies from Sundance so far, I've probably laughed the most at some of the scenes with Church, and the audience joined in as well. On top of that, Page as Vanessa delivers a strong performance reminiscent of Juno but with a much smarter, and not as quirky, tone.

Smart People is a very solid film from start to finish without too many issues. It connects best with intelligent individuals and won't resonate well with those looking for fluffier Hollywood flare, but if you're in the mood for something smart, funny, and fulfilling, then Smart People it is. I'm certain it will be as pleasant of a surprise for everyone else as it was for me.

Smart People review

Filed under Movie Reviews, Sundance 08

From around the web:

Aaron

i WANT to see this!!!
Alexander

Thomas Hayden Church is fantastic, makes me want to watch George of the Jungle now lol
Jed Fish Gould

This is the first kindness to the movie I've seen. The clips caused me to *want* to be interested in this film. Upon looking into it, I found "Smart People" getting bitter review treatment. While the above piece may be a bit enthusiastic, the film can't possibly be as bad as, say, the Village Voice thinks. I appreciate going to see a film with diminished expectations because it can be "my idea" to like it. But this site's opinion was a refreshing break from just meanness. Jesus, if you don't like it, make your own Ellen Page movie.
Reelthing

I wouldn’t call the movie depressing.. it’s just... nothing.. has no redeeming quality of any kind – the entire 1hour 33min run time it is stuck in the muck – keep your money and buy some day old bread to feed the pigeons it’s more entertaining.