‘Smart People’ Movie Review

     Oh Ellen Page, we just can’t see her face enough now that she has given us a whole new vision of pregnant teenagers who strive on confronting abortion and learning a few interesting facts about purple condoms. Director Noam Murro may have found better success with his award winning commercials in the past, but with novelist Mark Poirier penning a catchy screenplay and creating a mix of unlikely characters, the new independent drama ‘Smart People’ really comes off as a satisfying debut for Murro’s feature film career, and a good mark for any of its cast members’ to look back on.

     I once said that ‘Juno’ was the ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ of 2007 (I still think so), but I think I can say, with even more confidence, that ‘Smart People’ is a Little Miss Juno milkshake that comes off about as dysfunctional as the Hoover family, and about as sweet as the personality of a pregnant Ellen Page.

     Dennis Quaid plays an English professor who is emotionally crippled over the death of his wife, and through suffering a concussion in a freak accident, he must learn to reconnect to the people around him, but most importantly, he must come to terms with himself so that he can once again be the man he once was for his students. His recovery, however, won’t be an easy one as he confronts a wide range of people in what may very well be the toughest journey of his life in ‘Smart People.’

     Even with the recent success of Ellen Page to better the marketing, ‘Smart People’ still has a lot of potential built in its entire cast, and every single character is unquestionably brought out to the fullest. Certain members of the cast may have found better standards by having ‘Sex in the City,’ but it’s good to see a bunch of big star faces that complement each other more so than competing with one another for the main spotlight. To call this dialogue laden drama an emotional “journey,” however, would be a serious misconception due to the fact that nobody really makes any progress by the concluding act, but at least they were enjoyable for a full hour and a half.

     The most interesting thing about ‘Smart People’ is how it plots itself on a central character, but exists primarily because of its supporting cast. Like the Hoover family of ‘Little Miss Sunshine,’ every single character has a unique quality that defines them; whether its his laid back adoptive brother (Thomas Haden Church), a rebellious son (Ashton Holmes), his goody two shoes daughter (Ellen Page), or even a former student who still holds a grudge against him over a bad grade (Sarah Jessica Parker), Dennis Quaid has plenty more than a headache to deal with here. His name may be the first one on the credits, but he is truly not the main character of the film, and certainly not the first one audiences will want to identify with when it’s over.