Smarter than the Average?

Professor Lawrence Wetherhold is a university lecturer who considers himself an intellectual giant but has no idea about relationships. His family is falling apart at the seams and he can't find a publisher for his new book. His daughter Vanessa is a teenage over-achiever who loves nothing more than pouring scorn on others, his son James is barely speaking to him and his adopted brother Chuck is a grade-A freeloader. After an accident Lawrence is banned from driving for six months, so Chuck moves in to be his driver. The professor also stumbles across one of his old students in the form of Doctor Janet Hartigan and he slowly begins to wake up to the possibilities of life.

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. As Lawrence and his daughter Vanessa are so emotionally constipated it makes it virtually impossible to care about them. But the same can also be said of his adopted brother Chuck who is nothing more than the slacker stereotype turned middle-aged. Janet is a handy example of how intellect and people skills can mesh. But the problem is that the characters aren't fleshed out beyond the clichés so they have no distinct personalities or idiosyncrasies that allow you to identify with them. And the suggestion that the intelligentsia should stop taking themselves seriously and loosen up (preferably with the help of drugs or booze) feels overly simplistic. There isn't enough story to sustain it through its ninety-five minute running time, making the pacing plodding. A literally last minute attempt at humanising the main protagonist and suggesting a redemptive character arc is too little too late. By that time you have long since ceased to care and you'll be waiting for the movie to dribble to a halt. The dialogue is almost devoid of the snappy banter suggested by the trailer and considering how intelligent most of the characters are meant to be, you'd think they could come up with more inventive put-downs than their playground retorts.

Ellen Page is positively viperish as Vanessa. She comes across as smart, sharp and pedantic. But she's extremely unlikeable as she is also joyless, jealous, petty and old before her time. Although it may show the young actress has range, she feels a little too harsh on occasion so she doesn't feel quite human. There's no sign of underlying fragility to temper the sourness so Page's performance feels two-dimensional.

If I had known the film's composer was Nuno Bettencourt, former lead guitarist with Extreme I could have predicted exactly the sort of score he would come up with. Of course the music is heavy on guitars - they feature in virtually every arrangement. Whether it's the opening echoing strummed acoustic guitars or strutting warm strings and guitars or guitar and sleigh bells for Christmas his favourite instrument pops up everywhere. There are exceptions such as synthesizers with "dah-dahing" vocals and rising strings. Sadly this lack of invention means you filter out the music and what sneaks through is very bland. The same is true of the other soundtrack choices which lean towards middle-of-the-road maudlin indie.