Pretentious People (Smart People (DVD))

Member Name: collingwood21

Product:	Smart People (DVD)
Date:	26/02/09 (306 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Dennis Quaid does well playing against type, Some bits made me smile

Disadvantages: Tries too hard to be quirky, Sarah Jessica Parker out of her depth, A bit dull in places

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 obvious glee. This just goes to show that being smart doesn't necessarily mean that you function well in everyday life, and nor does it (thinking of my own acquaintances) mean you have common sense, social skills or a sense of humour. A small enough observation, but one that has been developed into a 90 minute film in the form of "Smart People", presumably hoping to cash in on the recent wave of successful indie films with an abundance of quirky characters, and well, smart people in them.

"Smart People" introduces us to curmudgeonly English Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid), a man who is not having an easy time of things. His wife died an unspecified (but apparently long) time ago and he has never gotten over it, leaving him misanthropic, grumpy and unwilling to engage with his students. He has trouble connecting with his poet son James (Ashton Holmes) and must deal on a daily basis with his aggressively over-achieving daughter Vanessa (Ellen Paige) who has taken it upon herself to be his right-hand woman, acting as gourmet cook, housekeeper and advisor on office politics and titles for his forthcoming book ("You Can't Read" - which sounds just pompous enough to succeed in a market where controversy sells, reckons his publisher). When Lawrence has an accident that prevents him from driving for the next six months it seems things can only get worse; his permanently broke (and decidedly less intellectual) adoptive brother Chuck (Thomas Haden Church) is only too happy to leap in the sudden window of opportunity that becoming his brother's chauffer creates and mooch off his smarter sibling, something Lawrence is only too aware of. However, a silver lining presents itself in the form of Janet (Jessica Sarah Parker), the hospital doctor - and former student - who treats Lawrence after his accident. She accepts his less than gracious offer of a date, apparently to resolve her adolescent crush on him (it's certainly not for his charm - or beard). What happens after that threatens to affect all of Lawrence's relationships with those around him and may even change the professor himself, making him realise he is not as smart about life as he thought he was.

"Smart People" seems to be trying very hard to be this year's "Sideways", a film I very much enjoyed but one that was always going to be hard to live up to. I guess you can see where the inevitable comparisons come from: they share a producer (in Michael London), a cast member (in Thomas Haden Church), a DVD cover colour scheme (a delightful shade of lime green) and both feature a depressed middle aged man with book publishing issues at their centre. They are both arguably intellectual films, although "Smart People" does it in a more bookish and self-conscious manner. Instead of revelling in white trash stupidity like many films, "Smart People" revels in overly intellectual stupidity. There is one scene when Vanessa, her inhibitions temporarily lowered by beer, turns to a bottle blonde peer and asks, "how's it feel to be stupid?". Far from intimidated, she snaps back, "how's it feel to eat lunch alone every day?". Vanessa is drunk enough to be honest: "it f***in' sucks!". This sequence really sums up what the film is about; how it is one thing to feel superior for being clever, perceptive, well educated and articulate, but quite another to have meaningful relationships with other people. Being an intellectual doesn't prevent you from feeling lonely, friendless and isolated from your peers - this film seems to want to remind us that smart people have feelings too.

"Smart People" tries to work as both a comedy and a drama, but for me the comedy bits weren't all that comic and that drama bits weren't all that dramatic. The end result was something that was mildly entertaining for the time that it was on, which raised a few smiles (and one laugh) at sections that felt very true to life, and which ended abruptly leaving me wondering what the real point of it all was. The film works too hard to create a quirky tone that should come naturally if the film is truly to be quirky, and the strain is all too evident in places. If you want a film about a quirky family, I suggest watching "Little Miss Sunshine" instead. If it is a tale of a widower exploring new love you are after, I would recommend "Dan in Real Life" above this any day. And no, it doesn't even come close to "Sideways".

I though Dennis Quaid was an unusual choice to play a depressed middle aged professor given the other roles I have seen him in, which have tended towards the macho rather than the intellectual. However, this turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It seems that the addition of a beard and fake paunch helped Quaid acquit himself well in this unusual choice of role and he does himself justice playing against type. Thomas Haden Church channels his stoner character from "Sideways" that became his breakthrough role, while Ellen Paige is simply Juno's non-pregnant Republican cousin - both are perfectly competent in their roles, but neither actor is exactly stretched. Ashton Holmes (who I last saw in "a history of violence") was rather wasted as the angry and monosyllabic son, and this part should either have been expanded into something more meaningful or else removed from the film altogether; I got the vague impression this may have been due to over-eager editing to get the film's length down to 90 minutes, but as it stands it just seems awkward and out of place. Janet's part was I believe originally to be given to Rachel Weisz, but was handed to Sarah Jessica Parker at the last minute after Weisz had to drop out of the project. This gives SJP the chance to prove she is more than just a Manhattan Barbie, but I wasn't convinced she made the most of it. She seemed out of her depth and struggled to make an impact, while her chemistry with Quaid's character was pretty much non-existent to me.

I think "Smart People" was trying to make the point that knowing things is ultimately less important than knowing yourself and having friends around you to share life with, and that being socially successful is as important as being intellectually successful. The message is not all that clear, however, and it could equally be promotional material to encourage us to date grumpy middle aged men who we have nothing in common with. I wanted to like "Smart People", but while there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the way the film is put together, the more I think about it the more I find it a bit hollow and unsatisfying, a bit pretentious and a film that left me wondering "is that it?". The thing that has stayed with me more than anything is the relentlessly sensitive acoustic guitar folksy music that forms the bulk of the film's score and which has been firmly wedged on my internal soundtrack since I watched it. Had "Smart People" been released without the slew of family centred intelligent films that preceded it, then it would probably have seemed much better, but in comparison to them ("Juno", "About Schmidt" et al) it just seems poor and lazy, and not as smart as it thinks it is.

Not recommended.


Official film website: http://www.smartpeoplemovie.co.uk/

Summary: Not as smart as it likes to think it is