"Smart People" **** (out of ****)One of the great things about watching movies is sometimes you'll walk into a movie, have no idea what to expect, and find you have discovered your own hidden treasure. Noam Murro's "Smart People" is such a film for me.
After complaining in my review for "The Counterfeiters" about the lack of quality films coming out in 2008, "Smart People" is one of the year's best films. I remember when the film was first released in theatres and I did want to see it but never got a chance. When I found out the film was going to be released on DVD I said to myself I have to rent it.
I don't like to read movie reviews before I see a movie. I prefer to walk into a movie cold and then read reviews. Sometimes I'm afraid the critic might reveal too much. Other times I simply want to be surprised by everything. I want to discover things for the first time as the characters in the film discover them.
So knowing this about me, I walked into "Smart People" without knowing a single thing about it. There will be those who say "Smart People" does nothing new. In a way they are right. The film is similar to Noan Baumbach's "The Squid and the Whale". But, have you ever just simply watched a movie, not analyze it, but just take in the charms of a movie and shut your brain off. To simply enjoy a movie for simply being a movie? That's what I did watching this film.
"Smart People" is about a pompous, conservative college literary professor (Dennis Quaid) who is disinterested in the world and his students. He cannot remember the names of his students and even suggest they wear name tags. His car takes up two parking spaces because he parks on a slant. His only concern in life is getting his novel published. He doesn't even pay his children proper respect; Vanessa (Ellen Page) and James (Ashton Holmes). It seems ever since his wife died Prof. Lawrence Wetherhold (Quaid) has lost the ability to connect with people.
After Lawrence's car is towed, you can only park in two spots so long before someone notices, he sneaks into the car lot, not wanting to pay the fine, and takes a few things from the car. But when the security guard (a former student, whom he gave a failing grade to) catches him in action, Lawrence jumps a fence and hits his head suffering from a seizure. He is now unable to drive for six months as his step-brother, Chuck (Thomas Haden Church) moves in to drive Lawrence around.
Chuck is not like the rest of the family. He is not a republican, is not as "smart" as Lawrence and Vanessa, who snicker at all people who they feel do not possess their intelligence, and has not amounted to much in life. But through this wild and crazy uncle, these smart people may learn something.
Lawrence finds himself attracted to his former doctor (and student) Dr. Janet Hartigan (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Vanessa learns to open up a bit and have some fun before she heads off to college. This tightly knit family, which keeps all their feelings inside are going to learn to communicate with each other.
Of all the characters in this movie, I think the one I enjoyed watching the most is Vanessa. I'm about a movie late in my appreciation for Ellen Page. Last year everyone fell in love with her as Juno. I was a little indifferent to that film and her performance. But, after watching "Smart People" I find her to be adorable! I can understand this character, I see a little bit of me in her. She has high standards, wants to desperately succeed, wants to impress her father, worried about getting into a good school, and is a member of the young Republican club. I was a member of my school's young conservative club, but I only went to one meeting and it didn't help that I'm not a conservative.
"Smart People" is really filled with characters and situations I think most audience members can relate to. That is what makes this film work. The characters seem like people you know. As you watch the film you just begin to accept these characters as real people and they win you over.
The writer of the film Mark Jude Poirier, has never written anything before this. It would be great if the Academy would nominate this screenplay. And director Murro is also a newcomer. How two people, who have never worked on any film before, could make such a film like this is amazing to me. There is so much talent out there that is just waiting to be discovered.
At the end of the day "Smart People" is a film which tells if even smart people do stupid things and need to be told what to do. How true that is. I hope others seek this film out. It's one of the year's best.
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