SMART PEOPLE
US, 2008, 95 minutes, Colour.
Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Hayden Church, Ellen Page, Ashton Holmes, Christine Lahti.
Directed by Noam Murro.
Dr Janet Hartigan, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, remarks to English Literature Professor (Dennis Quaid) that they are supposed to be smart people. They have the academic qualifications and the professor has no hesitation in letting others know about his knowledge but, in terms of life and values, they are not particularly smart at all. Which is the point of the ironic title.
This is a brief, rather light, drama about smart people and their mistakes.
Dennis Quaid, looking very much the worse for wear and sometimes sounding like Jack Nicholson playing the part, is a widower with two teenage children. He really takes little interest in his son (Ashton Holmes) who writes poetry and lives in a university dorm. His daughter (Ellen Page) is sitting for her final exams, hoping for entrance into Stanford and continually taking her father as her serious role model. She too is no slouch at letting others know how intelligent she is and making elitist demands on them (even asking two girls out at a bar what it is like to be stupid!).
Into the picture comes the professor’s slacker adopted brother (Thomas Hayden Church) who, though quite unreliable and seemingly unable to communicate at any deep level, is actually rather life-smarter than the others.
The film has some quite intellectually sounding dialogue and references to English literature and American poems that will not have come into the ken of the film’s potential audience and may quickly brand the main characters as snobs and their lives not particularly interesting outside the walls of the university.
However, since the plot shows the professor trying to relate to the doctor and become less self-preoccupied and pompous in his utterances, there is some interest in watching his transformation. More interesting, perhaps, is the loosening up of the prim daughter following the lead of her uncle and misunderstanding his intentions. As played by Ellen Page, she is quite different from her recent Oscar-nominated performance as Juno. It is Thomas Hayden Church, however, who gives the most persuasive performance – which means that it is rash to judge people, smart or not, on first appearances.
1.The impact of the film for American audiences, other audiences? Particularly American?
2.The light serious comedy, the ironic title and perspective?
3.The Pittsburgh settings, homes, the university, hospital? The contrast with New York City? The range of songs, the musical score?
4.American types: intellectuals, academics, pompous and arrogant, self-absorbed? The audience having sympathy for them or not?
5.The introduction to Lawrence? His age, unkempt, the widower, his two children, his brother, asking for cash and his refusing it, cranky, self-absorbed, his boring lectures, his not remembering people’s names and their resenting this, the negative feedback on his barking at students during courses, the job and his boss, heading the committee, his ability to nominate himself for the post (and the argument about Dick Cheney nominating himself for vice-president)? His manuscript, the nature of his book, his explanation of it to Janet? The rejections? His car, being impounded, climbing the wall, falling, in hospital, his rough attitude towards the doctor, his not remembering her, Vanessa and her visit? His not being able to drive? His prospects for the next six months? Introduction to a cantankerous character?
6.The contrast with Chuck, his being adopted as a child, his life, a slacker, borrowing money and not repaying? Staying in the house, James giving him the room? Vanessa and her antagonism? Snobbish attitude? His way of talking to Lawrence, living in the present, agreeing to drive, unreliable? Smoking pot, taking Vanessa to the bar, her getting drunk? His moving away, staying with James, his lie about a girlfriend? Yet his type, allegedly not smart – but shrewd?
7.Vanessa, her age, study, harsh attitudes, her love of wordplay and knowledge, taking her father as a role model, being unhappy? Antagonism towards Janet? Cooking in the house, her infatuation with Chuck, misreading him, the kiss, her embarrassment? Her asking the girl at the bar what it was like to be stupid? Her getting the entry to Stanford? Not telling her father? Her father going on the date and her reaction? The Christmas dinner, cooking, the bickering with James? Her arrogance and vulnerability?
8.Janet, her work at the hospital, her precision in words, agreeing to go out with Lawrence, listening to him for forty-five minutes, accusing him of being pompous, self-absorbed, her leaving? Her essay and the sea, her re-reading it, considering remarking it, the second dinner, going home, the sexual encounter, the condom? Her going to the Christmas dinner? The affair, her pregnancy? Going to New York, the book, her not being happy with Lawrence, the airport scene? Her remark about their being supposed to be smart people?
9.Lawrence and the dates, words, forty-five minutes talking about himself and his book, at home, the university, the meetings? His affair, the book and going to New York, the discussions, marketing and dumbing down of his work? Yet it paying for Vanessa’s Stanford education? Tension at the airport? His changing, withdrawing his nomination and his honesty about not being suitable for the position, his acceptance of the book, discovering about James and the poem and wanting to read it, sitting in the front seat of the car with Chuck and not being sick?
10.James, as a poet, his success? His resentment towards his father for his lack of interest?
11.Vanessa, trying to modify and become a bit more humane?
12.Chuck, his remaining the same, uncouth, staying in the house, yet humanising his relations?
13.The marriage, the children, the final credits – and everybody in the family accepting the children and being in the photos?
14.Ultimate sympathy for Lawrence and the other characters? Some hope for their transformation?
