Smart People

Lawrence (a bearded and tweedy Dennis Quaid) is a professor of literature and a pompous ass. Maybe the death of his wife made him that way - maybe he always had it in him, but he's organized his life in such a way that no one else gets much of a look in. Not his pissed off teenage son, James (Ashton Holmes); not his colleagues on the faculty; certainly not his poor students; and least of all his own ne'er do well brother Chuck (Thomas Haden Church).

The only one who genuinely likes Lawrence is his daughter Vanessa (Ellen Page), a young Republican who takes pride in keeping the household running smoothly and who shares her dad's contempt for Chuck.

Then two things happen to throw this carefully structured life out of kilter. First Chuck shows up on Larry's doorstep in need of a place to stay. And second, his wish is granted when Lawrence suffers a seizure as he tries to break into his own car - and the doctor bans him from driving for six months. It is - as Chuck tactlessly puts it - "a win-win situation": he can stay and chauffeur his bro.

There's a third shockwave in store. It turns out the doctor who treated Lawrence is a former student, Janet (Sarah Jessica Parker). She still harbours a crush on her old professor, as well as resentment for the way he marked down one of her essays.

He hardly remembers her, but agrees to go out on a date. To Vanessa's dismay, change is in the air�

Written by Mark Jude Poirier and directed by Noam Murro (both new to features), Smart People is by no means as smart as it would like to think it is. It's more like a sitcom version of Wonder Boys. That underrated Curtis Hanson-Michael Douglas movie had a sharper ear for intellectual self-absorption and a more original gallery of supporting players.

Here, Thomas Haden Church is basically asked to reprise his Sideways shtick. He does it very well, but by the second time he flashes his gratuitous buttocks you have to worry for the guy's pride.

Ellen Page is everywhere right now - she just signed on to play Jane Eyre, and you can catch her in an earlier rebellious teen role in Mouth to Mouth. Vanessa doesn't have a great deal in common with Juno McDuff, except that they're both more mature and articulate than you might expect. Her scenes with Haden Church (Vanessa almost goes over to the dark side) are probably the best in the movie, and the funniest, but the actors have to make all the running; the writing is too glib and superficial. Whenever Murro wants to get emotional he turns to his iPod and gives us a cheap musical montage.

A good actor in the right role (he's terrific in The Big Easy, in Wyatt Earp and Far From Heaven) Quaid isn't the right casting for a snobby academic. I suspect the thinking was he can make a dislikeable character charming, which is true, but you have to believe Lawrence's intellectual credentials first, and for that you need your Anthony Hopkins or your William Hurt. As for Mss Jessica Parker, she's okay, but it's very hard to believe the doc grants Lawrence a second chance after such a rotten first date.

If I don't sound enthusiastic it's because I'm not, this movie is more like a pilot for a sitcom than a successor to a truly smart comedy, like Sideways. That said, at least it's got a degree of sophistication and wit, and if we set the bar a little lower - compare it with What Happens in Vegas or Made Of Honour, that puts things in a very different light. Lawrence would probably give it a third class degree but I'll be generous and say a 2.2.

Tom Charity
tomcharity@lovefilm.com

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