DVD Review - Smart People
Let me just say that these are the types of movies where I don't understand all the "critically acclaimed" hype. After all this movie debuted at the 2008 Sundance film festival and was snatched up by a studio almost instantly.
Granted there are a lot of great stars in it, such as Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ellen Page and Thomas Haden Church. And indivually their performances are great - but for some reason this movie didn't wow me.
The movie is about a arrogant university professor (Quaid) who seems bored with his life, his students and anyone he deems is less intelligent than him (which is pretty much anyone in his eyes).
The movie also introduces us to his over achieving daughter (Page) and his under achieving step brother (Haden Church).
Granted there are a lot of great stars in it, such as Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ellen Page and Thomas Haden Church. And indivually their performances are great - but for some reason this movie didn't wow me.
The movie is about a arrogant university professor (Quaid) who seems bored with his life, his students and anyone he deems is less intelligent than him (which is pretty much anyone in his eyes).
The movie also introduces us to his over achieving daughter (Page) and his under achieving step brother (Haden Church).
The professor soon meets a doctor, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, who he falls for, however he doesn't realize she used to be a student of hers. There is the typical movie akwardness between them but ultimately they both realize how much they are meant for each other.
And that's pretty much the movie.
I equate it to "Little Miss Sunshine" - another movie I never really enjoyed. I think I related these two because there are a lot of similarities. For example, in Smart People (as in Sunshine) the individual performaces are awesome. Yet when they are put together on screen they somehow seem akward or not quite right.
However, as I said above, I'm not the type who really enjoys this type of movie. You might be however.
I give the individual performances in this movie all A's, but I only give the movie a C.
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This page contains a single entry by Rob Sullivan published on August 11, 2008 4:08 PM.
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