Smart People (DVD)

Smart People (2008) - FILM ONLY REVIEW Certificate 15(UK)/R (USA) This week has seen the arrival of a new minor celebrity in medialand, in the form of one Gail Trimble. Gail, for those of you who hadn't noticed, is an Oxford Latin scholar who has dominated the latest series of "University Challenge" by not only leading her college team to victory, but also by winning an impressive two thirds of their many points along the way. But while many media outlets have been celebrating Gail's intellectual prowess, I noticed the Sun took it upon itself to set her its own quiz on popular culture - at which she scored a grand total of zero, much to their ...  Read the complete review

Sadly, there's a great abundance of comedies recently, like Juno, that try far too hard to be quirky, and thus things materialise as a cheekily self conscious attempt to rouse laughs. The very best comedy is earnest, but Smart People, much like Juno (which also stars Ellen Page), has its moments, but is ultimately a fairly disingenuous affair. Carnegie Mellon English Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) is a widower with something of a disinterest in anything outside of his job - his two kids in particular he neglects. This apathy permeates through to his daughter, Vanessa (Ellen Page), but things take a turn when his strung out, deadbeat brother Chuck ...  Read the complete review

(Film only review) On our weekly trip to the cinema, we chose to see Smart People, although not really knowing much about it, thought we'd give it a go. After seeing Juno and enjoying it hugely, primarily due to the superb acting of Ellen Page, I thought this has to be just as good...surely. I had seen snippets of trailers and quite liked the look of it, the quirky use of Scrabble tiles in the poster made me smile...I mean they use Scrabble letters in the marketing, how bad could it be??? Well, that's a good question, because something was lacking, that I can't quite put my finger on. As the film starts, we are introduced to Laurence Wetherfold, played by ...  Read the complete review

What is about that makes successful TV stars fail so miserably when it comes to the small screen? Ask anyone from Friends, especially Jennifer Aniston and in this case, Sarah Jessica Parker from Sex & The City. She has had her fair share of stinkers including Failure To Launch with the wooden Matthew McConaughey and now Smart People. In Smart People Professor Laurence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) ends up in hospital suffering from a trauma induced seizure. Wetherhold falls from a fence whilst attempting to retrieve his impounded car. As a result of the seizure Wetherhold is instructed not to drive for six months by a friendly doctor called Janet (Sarah ...  Read the complete review