Jason KingReview of Smart People
April 24th 2008 05:32
Category: No Category
SMART PEOPLE (2008) $5-
I read that this was being made by the producer of Sideways and got all excited. My love for wine blossomed watching Sideways and I saw the cast of this film and was even more excited. But truth be told, where as Sideways increased the sales of wine in the US by 20% all this film is going to increase is the amount of people falling asleep during a film. It is just BORING.
The film is about boring miserable people who all have problems - OMG - it's the real world. I could not find any way to like any of the characters.
Professor Lawrence Wetherhold might be imperiously brilliant, monumentally self-possessed and an intellectual giant--but when it comes to solving the conundrums of love and family, he's as downright flummoxed as the next guy. His collegiate son won't confide in him, his teenaged daughter is an acid-tongued overachiever who follows all too closely in dad's misery-loving footsteps, and his adopted, preposterously ne'er-do-well brother has perfected the art of freeloading. A widower who can't seem to find passion in anything anymore, not even the Victorian Literature in which he's an expert, it seems Lawrence is sleepwalking through a very stunted middle age. When his brother shows up unexpectedly for an extended stay at just about the same time as he accidentally encounters his former student Janet, the circumstances cause him to stir from his deep, deep freeze, with consequences for himself and everyone around him.
Don't get me wrong - this film has some brilliant talent in it. Dennis Quaid is one of my favourite actors and it made my year when, after his split with Meg Ryan, that his career skyrocketed and hers kind of fizzled. It has always been my belief that Dennis Quaid should have played the lead in The DaVinci Code Movie, thought he would have made that film where I think Tom Hanks let it down. Sarah Jessica Parker glams down and is quite enjoyable as the love interest in the film however Quaid's' character is so bloody boring and depressing that I have NO idea how she could have found some attraction for him, it was just totally unbelievable. Thomas Haden Church is the best in the film and he should be cast more - he just comes across so enjoyable and believable. I think the reason I enjoyed him so much was that he seemed to be the only marginally happy person in the film. Ellen Page basically plays Juno Revisited and because she was SO good in that film she better be careful she doesn't end up stereotyped into these roles. She is just as boring as her father in the film (Quaid) and I just didn't want any of their problems solved, didn't care if they became happy or not as I just didn't think they should have been salvaged. I also couldn't work out the purpose of the brother - I really like the actor Aston Holmes (A History of Violence and a few TV shows) but his character is kind of irrelevant and not required in this movie.
The film starts out with some humor but then that's it. It gets more boring as it progresses. I had the choice of watching this or Deception this morning and boy am I pissed I picked the wrong one, I stood up for the last 20min's doing stretches so I wouldn't fall asleep. I read one review for this film that described it as "The Squid and the Whale for Dumb People" - PERFECT. Don't even bother on DVD - I think it's worth $5- and that's only because I like Dennis Quaid so much!!!
I read that this was being made by the producer of Sideways and got all excited. My love for wine blossomed watching Sideways and I saw the cast of this film and was even more excited. But truth be told, where as Sideways increased the sales of wine in the US by 20% all this film is going to increase is the amount of people falling asleep during a film. It is just BORING.
The film is about boring miserable people who all have problems - OMG - it's the real world. I could not find any way to like any of the characters.
Professor Lawrence Wetherhold might be imperiously brilliant, monumentally self-possessed and an intellectual giant--but when it comes to solving the conundrums of love and family, he's as downright flummoxed as the next guy. His collegiate son won't confide in him, his teenaged daughter is an acid-tongued overachiever who follows all too closely in dad's misery-loving footsteps, and his adopted, preposterously ne'er-do-well brother has perfected the art of freeloading. A widower who can't seem to find passion in anything anymore, not even the Victorian Literature in which he's an expert, it seems Lawrence is sleepwalking through a very stunted middle age. When his brother shows up unexpectedly for an extended stay at just about the same time as he accidentally encounters his former student Janet, the circumstances cause him to stir from his deep, deep freeze, with consequences for himself and everyone around him.
Don't get me wrong - this film has some brilliant talent in it. Dennis Quaid is one of my favourite actors and it made my year when, after his split with Meg Ryan, that his career skyrocketed and hers kind of fizzled. It has always been my belief that Dennis Quaid should have played the lead in The DaVinci Code Movie, thought he would have made that film where I think Tom Hanks let it down. Sarah Jessica Parker glams down and is quite enjoyable as the love interest in the film however Quaid's' character is so bloody boring and depressing that I have NO idea how she could have found some attraction for him, it was just totally unbelievable. Thomas Haden Church is the best in the film and he should be cast more - he just comes across so enjoyable and believable. I think the reason I enjoyed him so much was that he seemed to be the only marginally happy person in the film. Ellen Page basically plays Juno Revisited and because she was SO good in that film she better be careful she doesn't end up stereotyped into these roles. She is just as boring as her father in the film (Quaid) and I just didn't want any of their problems solved, didn't care if they became happy or not as I just didn't think they should have been salvaged. I also couldn't work out the purpose of the brother - I really like the actor Aston Holmes (A History of Violence and a few TV shows) but his character is kind of irrelevant and not required in this movie.
The film starts out with some humor but then that's it. It gets more boring as it progresses. I had the choice of watching this or Deception this morning and boy am I pissed I picked the wrong one, I stood up for the last 20min's doing stretches so I wouldn't fall asleep. I read one review for this film that described it as "The Squid and the Whale for Dumb People" - PERFECT. Don't even bother on DVD - I think it's worth $5- and that's only because I like Dennis Quaid so much!!!
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