Smart People

Infobox Film
name = Smart People


caption = Theatrical release poster
director = Noam Murro
producer = Michael London
writer = Mark Poirier
starring = Dennis Quaid
Sarah Jessica Parker
Thomas Haden Church
Ellen Page
Ashton Holmes
music = Nuno Bettencourt
editing = Yana Gorskaya
distributor = Miramax Films
released = January 20, 2008 (Sundance)
April 11, 2008
runtime = 93 min.
country = USA
language = English
budget = $7,000,000
gross = $10,580,624
website = http://www.smartpeoplemovie.com/
amg_id = 1:360828
imdb_id = 0858479

"Smart People" is a 2008 comedy film starring Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ellen Page and Thomas Haden Church. The film was directed by Noam Murro and written by Mark Poirier. It was filmed on location in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, including several scenes at Carnegie Mellon University and the Pittsburgh International Airport. The film premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival,cite press release |url=http://www.sundance.org/festival/press_industry/releases/pdf/2008_SFF_Announces_Films_In_Competition.pdf |title=2008 Sundance Film Festival Announces Films in Competition |publisher=Sundance |date=2007-11-28 |accessdate=2008-04-13 |format=PDF ] where North American distribution rights were acquired by Miramax Films. The film was released widely on April 11, 2008.

Plot

Carnegie Mellon English Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) is a depressed middle-aged widower. He is bitter and arrogant at work, uninterested in his students, and alienated from his two children. His adopted ne'er-do-well brother, Chuck (Thomas Haden Church), arrives to borrow money and stays for a while as he tries to unwind Lawrence's lonely, overachieving teenage daughter, Vanessa (Ellen Page).

Meanwhile, Lawrence suffers a trauma-induced seizure after falling from the top of a fence in an attempt to retrieve his briefcase from inside his impounded car. In the emergency room, he is treated by a sympathetic doctor, Janet (Sarah Jessica Parker), who is a former student he does not remember. Janet tells Lawrence that because of his seizure, he is not allowed to drive for six months. When he returns home from the hospital, Chuck is still there, and he offers to drive for him while he is unable.

When Lawrence returns to the hospital for a followup visit he is surprised that it is not with Janet but with Dr. Strauss (David Denman), a friend of Janet, who reminds him that she had been one of his students. He meets Janet again outside the hospital as he is leaving and, since Chuck has failed to show up, she offers to take him home. When they arrive, he asks Janet to join him for a "face-to-face conversation." She agrees, fulfilling a long-ago crush with the professor. Vanessa verbalizes her displeasure, confronting Janet about Lawrence's fragility. At dinner, Lawrence displays his stultifying arrogance by monopolizing the conversation and Janet walks out. The two reconcile for a second date, but, while spending the night, Janet is turned off by Lawrence's neediness and worries that he is, in fact, still too distraught by his wife's death. In order to get rid of him, she feigns being called in by the hospital and does not return any of his subsequent calls. On another night, in the midst of a contentious Christmas family dinner at the Wetherholds', Janet arrives unannounced with a cake.

After Chuck gets Vanessa drunk to celebrate her early acceptance into Stanford University, she makes a pass at him. He then moves in part-time with Lawrence's son, James (Ashton Holmes), in his college dormitory.

James' girlfriend, Missy (Camille Mana), who is one of his father's students, tells Lawrence that James has had a poem accepted by "The New Yorker". In contrast, Lawrence's latest academic tome has been universally rejected. After Vanessa suggests a new title, "You Can't Read!", the book is sold to Penguin Group, a large non-academic publisher in New York. To Lawrence's dismay, however, the book is largely re-worked and edited by the publisher and only vaguely resembles his original work. Janet accompanies Lawrence on a trip to New York to meet with the publisher where she learns she is pregnant by him. Preoccupied by his book's publishing and an on-going campaign to become chairman of the English Department, Janet is again upset by Lawrence's self-absorption and breaks up without telling him the news.

Back in Pittsburgh, Lawrence is confronted by both James and Chuck, who both point to his apparent disinterest in his children's lives. Encouraged by Chuck, Lawrence goes to the hospital to reconcile with Janet, who reveals her pregnancy. He has meanwhile dropped his bid to become department head and has become a more involved parent and professor. During the end credits, the main characters cradle twin babies: one boy and one girl.

Cast

* Dennis Quaid as Lawrence Wetherhold
* Sarah Jessica Parker as Janet Hartigan
* Thomas Haden Church as Chuck Wetherhold
* Ellen Page as Vanessa Wetherhold
* Ashton Holmes as James Wetherhold
* David Denman as Dr. William Strauss
* Camille Mana as Missy Chin
* Christine Lahti as Nancy

Production

According to actor Camille Mana, the script for "Smart People" circulated in Hollywood for several years, and "previously Robert Redford was supposed to direct it and it was developed at Focus Features." [cite news |url=http://asiancemagazine.com/apr_2008/camille_mana_is_smart_people |title=Camille Mana is Smart People |work=Asiance Magazine |date=April 2008 |accessdate=2008-04-13 ] The film was originally set at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., but filming an independent film in that city was deemed too difficult. [cite news |url=http://www.thetartan.org/2008/3/31/pillbox/smart_people |title='Smart People': On screen and on campus |first=Rachael |last=Clemmons |work=The Tartan |date=2008-03-31 |accessdate=2008-04-13 ]

Filming at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh occurred in November and December 2006. [cite news |url=http://www.thetartan.org/2006/11/6/news/film_schedule |title='Smart People' to film this week |work=The Tartan |date=2006-11-06 |accessdate=2008-04-13 ] [cite news |url=http://www.thetartan.org/2006/11/13/news/smart_people |title='Smart People' on campus |first=Andrew |last=Peters |coauthors=Laura Thorén |work=The Tartan |date=2006-11-13 |accessdate=2008-04-13 ] The house used as that of the Wetherholds is in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Friendship.cite news| url = http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08102/872312-42.stm |title = A guide to Pittsburgh sites in 'Smart People' |last = Vancheri |first = Barbara |work = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |accessdate=2008-08-27 |date=2008-04-11 ] The shooting schedule was compressed by Hollywood standards, at 29 days. [cite web |url=http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=43519 |title=CS Talks to Smart People |first=Edward |last=Douglas |work=Coming Soon |date=2008-04-04 |accessdate=2008-04-13 ] According to the the director, Noam Murro, in the audio commentary of the DVD, filming was actually completed before that of "Juno".

The photographs of the cast holding twin babies in the credits appear to be a nod to actor Dennis Quaid's twins born in November 2007, and his subsequent awareness campaign over medical drug dosage errors. [cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/11/21/entertainment/e055442S23.DTL |title=Dennis Quaid's twin babies involved in LA hospital drug overdose |date=2007-11-21 |work=San Francisco Chronicle |publisher=Associated Press |accessdate=2008-04-13 ] [cite news |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/13/60minutes/main3936412.shtml |title=Dennis Quaid Recounts Twins' Drug Ordeal |first=Steve |last=Kroft |work=60 Minutes |publisher=CBS News |date=2008-03-16 |accessdate=2008-04-13 ]

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews. As of July 29, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 49% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 121 reviews. [cite web |url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1192938-smart_people/ |title=Smart People Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes |accessdate=2008-04-13 |publisher=Rotten Tomatoes] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 57 out of 100, based on 33 reviews. [cite web |url=http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/smartpeople |title=Smart People (2008): Reviews |accessdate=2008-04-13 |publisher=Metacritic] The "Los Angeles Times", "Wall Street Journal", and "The New York Times" all gave the film superior reviews. [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120788247820207273.html] [http://articles.latimes.com/2008/apr/11/entertainment/et-smartpeople11] [http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/movies/11smar.html]

Box office performance

In its opening weekend, the film grossed an estimated $4.2 million in 1,106 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #7 at the box office. The first week gross was estimated at $5.7 million. [cite web|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=smartpeople.htm |title=Smart People (2008) - Weekend Box Office Results |accessdate=2008-04-19 |publisher=Box Office Mojo] As of July 29,2008, the movie has received $9,511,289 in the United States box office while receiving $1,069,335 overseas making a worldwide gross of $10,580,624.

References

External links

* [http://www.smartpeoplemovie.com/ Official site]
* [http://video.movies.go.com/smartpeople/ Official Site for DVD]
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