4 recommendations

Smart People

Editorial Review

It's not the first time an indie flick has turned its attentions on the dysfunctional family: Little Miss Sunshine and The Squid and the Whale delved into this domain with wit and warmth. In Smart People, first-time director Noam Murro paints a darkly humorous portrait of a family struggling to connect, who sarcastically reveal their pain through cutting one-liners.

Dennis Quaid acquires a middle-aged spread and an unkempt beard to play the curmudgeonly English professor Lawrence Wetherhold, in the familiar tradition of the rumpled, caustic man of letters. Still affected years later by the death of his wife, he's lost his passion for teaching and seems to be sleepwalking through life, oblivious to the needs of his two teenage children. When his slacker adopted brother, Chuck (Thomas Haden Church, Sideways) unexpectedly lands on his doorstep, and Lawrence falls in love with a former student, Janet (Sarah Jessica Parker), his frosty world is stirred into a very human mess that extends its reach to all of them.

Smart People favours small insights and subtlety over grand revelations and wholesale transformations, and the fallible but likeable characters are played by a terrific cast. Ellen Page reprises her whip-smart Juno role as the acerbic and brittle Vanessa, and Thomas Haden Church brings warmth and charm to the icy proceedings as the childlike Chuck - their unlikely bond provides some of the film's most appealing moments. But with no spark or chemistry between Lawrence and Janet, the love story at its heart is difficult to believe in. The moody Janet seems only roughly sketched - it's hard to understand what she sees in Lawrence and we never really find out.

There's sharp dialogue, great performances and some genuinely funny moments, but what Smart People lacks is warmth and sparkle. Even the cool, wintery cinematography and soundtrack of cloying, folky songs add to the dreariness. I wanted to care more. Plenty of brains but not enough heart.

Kerrie McCure