Smart People

Today I’ve been off work sick (will come back to why and how it went at the Doctors this morning). I spent most of the day watching various programs including Spooks and ER (Mainly series 14 -I think!). 

So after some quick research (I wanted something fun or that would make me smile rather than something that would make me cry or feel down) this afternoon I ended up renting Smart People from the On Demand service that we get from our TV supplier. I did look on iTunes but it was cheaper to rent it on the TV. 

I was looking for the poster and found it on a blog called “Kill Jill Goes to College” which can be found here. 

A brief synopsis of the film:

The film is about a widow/father/college professor (played by Dennis Quaid) who is kinda up himself and is generally unhappy. He doesn’t really care about his students and is more concerned about getting through the day rather than helping anyone. He’s been trying to get the position of Head of Department at the college he teaches at (which is Carnegie Mellon, Pittburgh). He has also been trying to get his book published but has been rejected by several publishers. I’ve seen a couple of his films but my favourite would have to be Yours Mine and Ours (Another one I should review one day! Maybe tomorrow!). 

I’ve only seen Sarah Jessica Parker in a couple of things (The Family Stone and SATC to name two of them) She plays one of Quaid’s Ex-students and his love interest. There’s conversations between them but there isn’t alot of chemistry between them. 

Ellen Page plays Quaid’s super-brain of a daughter. She’s become “Little Miss Wife” to her Dad following the death of her mother, at particular moment she cooks Christmas dinner for the “family”. She does everything in her power to try and impress her father including doing her best to get a high SAT score (This pays off as she ends up getting into Stamford University).

As Kill Jill puts it:

Page makes such an easy transition between playing the uber-Liberal, bass-playing, pregged-up teenage rebel in Juno to the exact opposite so easily. I’m beginning to think that this girl can do anything. I found her character kind of annoying too, and not just because she’s a Republican. That’s probably why her character doesn’t have any friends. (On a side note, I don’t think Ellen could ever play a dumb girl. Now that would be a challenge.)

The last main character in the story line is Quaid’s adopted brother (played by Thomas Haden Church). He ends up coming to live with the family after several failed business attempts. I agree with Kill Jill again that his character is a little unnecessary. He seems to drift in and out but never really has any substance within the story. 

Overall it was a good story and worth the money but it wasn’t what I expected. I have seen the DVD box in the shop and it looked interesting. I would recommend it if you wanted to watch it.