"Smart People"
Directed by: Noam Murro

Starring: Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Haden Church, Ellen Page, Ashton Holmes

MPAA rating: R (adult language)

Running time: 133 minutes

Best suited for: dysfunctionalfamily freaks

Least suited for: those dependent upon rich, complete characterization

"Smart People" tries very hard to be a smart movie, and it partially succeeds, although if I were to encapsulate the film, I'd label it a smart, abbreviated movie. The biggest problem with "Smart People" is its rushed feel- the plot hurried along, characters rushed through emotions, even the continuity, the editing at times hastened with a choppy resolve.

If the premise were that smart people were also harried people, one might assume a thematic relevance. But I don't believe this to be the case.

A scruffy Dennis Quaid plays burnedout Carnegie Mellon English professor Lawrence Wetherhold. His wife has died and, with her passing, so has his interest in anything remotely positive about life.

His teenage daughter, Vanessa (Ellen Page), is a self-reliant and vaguely tortured soul, running the household while striving for a perfect SAT score. Ashton Holmes is his son, James, a brooding poet and the most normal member of the Wetherhold family, but whose presence feels strangely truncated throughout the movie, more a foil for Vanessa's obsessive/compulsive tendencies than a whole, evolved character.

Enter two new variables into the Wetherholds' egocentric world.

Sarah Jessica Parker plays Janet, an emergency-room physician who treats Lawrence after a fall. Also one of his ex-students, she carried a schoolgirl crush that, it appears, has never fully been extinguished.

And along comes Chuck, smartly played by Thomas Haden Church. Chuck is Lawrence's stepbrother, blessed with a distinct absence of mental acuity. Chuck's short of money and looking for a place to crash, apparently not an atypical situation in the Wetherholds' realm.

Thus, with the impending love interest and bumbling stepbrother in place, "Smart People" is ready to rumble.

There's nothing new about Hollywood gently poking at smart people in dysfunctional situations. One might even consider 1970's "Five Easy Pieces" the modern precursor of the genre. "The Ice Storm" in 1997, "One True Thing" in '98 and 2006's "Running with Scissors" showed us that smart people were both dangerously selfabsorbed and socially myopic.

I believe "The Squid and the Whale" told the best, most prolific family story in 2005- but why are most of these smart people either teachers who write or writers who teach? Can't smart people ever be rocket scientists?

While mildly chiding in some places, gently funny in others, I don't believe "Smart People" is nearly as sophisticated as it prides itself to be, relying largely on the dumbed-down humor of Chuck to illuminate the Wetherholds' gloomy predicament.

There's a nice complexity that blossoms between middle-aged Chuck and young Vanessa- who begins to view her oblivious stepuncle with a Don Quixotelike fixation. Unfortunately, this budding relationship is rendered frustratingly incomplete.

Ellen Page's performance is nice here, although anyone noticing a similarity between Vanessa and Page's "Juno" persona, take note: "Smart People" was actually filmed before "Juno." I do believe Page will have plenty of opportunity to further blossom.

The relationship between Vanessa and Chuck isn't the only casualty here. Unfortunately, "Smart People" too quickly tries to push us into liking the pompous Lawrence as well.

Janet's interest in him seems somewhat forced and superficial. Just when we believe Lawrence to be irredeemably selfish, the spark of romance ignites, and we wonder, why this man? (Or even, why this family? as the overprotective Vanessa is immediately resentful of a new woman in her father's life. Another relationship never really established or explored.)

I suppose there's an ambiguous irony suggesting that an only moderately enjoyable film be even longer- but I suspect that another 30 minutes might have helped considerably to flesh out characters who may be dysfunctional but also interesting and possibly worth knowing. For those of us who enjoy plump characterization far more than exploding missiles or quirky, insufferable one-liners, "Smart People" may have indeed been a truly smart film.

Instead, one can expect an occasionally clever yet generally banal dose of mediocrity. Hollywood is a town stereotypically noted for its hyper-superficial tendencies. In the real world, learning to navigate one's inner attributes takes a little more patience. Liking Lawrence Wetherhold would have been worth the extra effort.