Smart People DVD

Advantages: Good acting. Ellen Page
Disadvantages: Boring plot

(Film only review) On our weekly trip to the cinema, we chose to see Smart People, although not really knowing much about it, thought we'd give it a go. After seeing Juno and enjoying it hugely, primarily due to the superb acting of Ellen Page, I thought this has to be just as good…surely. I had seen snippets of trailers and quite liked the look of it, the quirky use of Scrabble tiles in the poster made me smile…I mean they use Scrabble letters ...
...a good question, because something was lacking, that I can't quite put my finger on. As the film starts, we are introduced to Laurence Wetherfold, played by Dennis Quaid (Vantage Point) who is a university lecturer of literature, recent widower and father of two teenagers, each at different stages of education. As you might expect, his life has taken a downward spiral of depression and grief. He is also not the nicest man. His arrogance and aloofness ... Read review

Advantages: A good cast.
Disadvantages: The actors are wasted on poor writing and generic direction.

.... And as nobody shares their feelings on anything, it is impossible to understand what they're going through or empathise with their situations. This makes the pacing very slow and renders the whole movie a long hard slog from beginning to end. Murro's comic timing is slightly off so the handful of gags that appear are ineffectual because they are dragged out too long. The end result is a very mediocre character study that is nowhere near as smart as it thinks it is. The screenplay by Mark Poirier perpetuates the myth that all clever people are emotionally retarded, socially dysfunctional monsters with superiority complexes. It seems an odd prejudice to hold as without the titular smart people we would have died out as a species long ago. Nonetheless this has become a handy stereotype in recent years as the phenomenon of "dumbing down" has taken hold... Read review

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