Smart People

I recently rented Smart People, starring Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Haden Church and Ellen Page. I thought it was absolutely great, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who also enjoyed movies like Juno and Sideways and Little Miss Sunshine. Totally the same vein of humor.

The main character is a widowed college professor (Quaid) who teaches at Carnegie Mellon University, and who has his driver's license suspended for six months after he's hospitalized for an injury sustained during a somewhat humorous incident. Because he can't drive, he relies on his temporary homeless and mainly unemployed screw-up of an adopted brother (Church) to step in and act as a (ultimately completely irresponsible) cheuffeur.

The professor has a son, who is in college and keeps to himself, and a daughter (Page), who is a rather snarky senior in high school and preparing to go to Stanford next fall. It's clear the daughter has also taken on the role of Woman of the House in order to fill her deceased mother's shoes and so she acts like she's 17 going on 47, making for some great one-liners.

As if this dysfunctional family doesn't have enough to grapple with, the professor finds himself romantically involved with his doctor (Parker) who turns out to be a former student with a once-upon-a-time crush on him.

The main theme of this film -- and the one which gives it its title and many of its most humorous points -- is the fact that all of the characters are so intelligent that it makes it somewhat difficult for them to connect to one another, as well as the world around them.

Anyway, go rent it and let me know what you think.