Brains... Delicious Brains! | Thomas Haden Church and Ellen Page head up the high-IQ cast of Smart People.
SMART PEOPLE
Directed by Noam Murro. Starring Dennis Quaid, Thomas Haden Church, Ellen Page, Sarah Jessica Parker. Now playing.
3 1/2 Stars
It’s a healthy little subgenre we’ve got going here—quirky comedies about the tortured existence of the American middle class. From Little Miss Sunshine to The Squid and the Whale, an ever-increasing amount of indie celluloid currently devoted to addressing this pressing problem, and now we can add Smart People to the list.
Dennis Quaid is Lawrence Wetherhold, a widowed professor of Victorian literature with a healthy loathing for the rest of humanity. He’s a self-absorbed asshole, the kind of guy who blithely takes up two spaces in the university parking lot, barely notices his students, and takes his kids for granted. Of course, his daughter Vanessa (Ellen Page) is no better—she’s a sneering keener with zero social skills who studies her high-school classmates as though they were insects, and as a result regularly eats alone at lunch. Brother James (Ashton Holmes) at least realizes how dysfunctional his family is—he keeps his own counsel, downplays his relationship to his father and sister, and tries to stay as far away from them as possible.
It’s not a bad move on his part. James’ family is utterly clueless as to the cause of their unhappiness, father and daughter binding tightly in misery even as they verbally castigate each other. “I don’t think you know how to be happy, Vanessa,” Lawrence admonishes her at one point. “Well, you’re not happy,” she retorts, “and you’re my role model.” Ouch.
Things shake up with the arrival of Lawrence’s adopted brother Chuck (Thomas Haden Church), a stoned slacker who worms his way into the household after a seizure leaves Lawrence incapable of the looking after things, according to an ER medic. The doctor who orders this is Janet Hartigan (Sarah Jessica Parker), coincidentally an ex-student of Lawrence’s who was so distressed at his treatment of her during her school days that she switched her major from English to biology. Lawrence doesn’t remember her, but she still nurtures a small crush on this stooped, defeated, and bitter man—so when he makes a pass at her, she accepts, much to Vanessa’s mortification.
And so the stage is set for miscommunications, revelations, and even redemption. It’s all very well-played, with Quaid resisting the opportunity to turn his rage into scenery-chewing, Page balancing her closely maintained class snobbery with glimpses of real loneliness and Church turning in a charmingly scruffy performance as an easygoing family leech. Even Sarah Jessica Parker is quite good as the hesitant romantic interest—no hints of her Sex and the City mannerisms here—and Holmes is excellent as the overlooked poet in the family.
But the action tilts off-centre in a way that feels like post-Little Miss Sunshine indie formula. Once writer/director Noam Murro sets up his premise, he seems to have no idea what to do with these well-observed characters but put them into mildly oddball sitcom situations all leading up to a squishy ending, which is a damn shame. Misanthropy might not be an attractive trait in a guy like Lawrence Wetherhold, but it’s one that writer/directors like Murro shouldn’t shy away from.
Post the first comment: (Login or Register)