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Smart People
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Wikipedia article
'Smart People' is a 2008 American comedy-drama film starring Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Elliot Page, and Thomas Haden Church. The film was directed by Noam Murro, written by Mark Poirier and produced by Michael London, with Omar Amanat serving as executive producer. 'Smart People' was filmed on location in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, including several scenes at Carnegie Mellon University and the Pittsburgh International Airport. Premiering at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, North American distribution rights were acquired by Miramax Films and the film was released widely on April 11, 2008.
Plot
Carnegie Mellon English Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) is a widowed parent of an alienated college son, James (Ashton Holmes), overachieving high school daughter, Vanessa (Elliot Page), and sibling to an adopted ne'er-do-well brother, Chuck (Thomas Haden Church) who he cannot evade enough. He is bitter, arrogant, self-absorbed, and uninterested in his students. This becomes a problem when he parks illegally on campus. The car is impounded and he does not pay the fine before getting to the college impound lot, watched by a disgruntled former student. Lawrence has a trauma-induced seizure after falling from the top of a fence after retrieving his briefcase from inside the impounded car.
In the emergency room, he is treated by Dr. Janet Hartigan (Sarah Jessica Parker), a former student he does not remember. Lawrence has to get about without being able to operate his car. His brother Chuck is without a place to sleep and a job, so Vanessa sets it up for what he characterizes as a "win/win" situation.
At a follow-up appointment, another doctor tells Lawrence that Janet had been his student. He sees 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 later meet for coffee and she agrees, fulfilling her old student crush on the professor. Vanessa confronts Janet, warning her about Lawrence's fragility. At dinner, Lawrence monopolizes the conversation and Janet walks out.
Lawrence fakes a visit to the emergency room to see Janet again and they reconcile for a second date. They get back to Janet's place where they have sex, 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. To get rid of him, she feigns being called in to work and does not return any of his subsequent calls. On another night, in the midst of a contentious family Christmas 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, which he rejects. He then moves in part-time with Lawrence's son, James, 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 book has been universally rejected. A new title, 'You Can't Read!' (Vanessa's idea) helps sell the book to Penguin Group, a largely non-academic publisher. To Lawrence's dismay, however, the book is largely re-worked and edited by the publisher, only vaguely resembling his original work. Janet accompanies Lawrence on a trip to New York to meet with the publisher, where she learns she is pregnant with their child. Finding him preoccupied by his book's publishing and an ongoing campaign to become chairman of the English Department, Janet is again upset by Lawrence's self-absorption and breaks up with him without telling him the news.
Back in Pittsburgh, Lawrence is confronted by both James and Chuck, who both point to his apparent lack of interest 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, Lawrence and Janet cradle twin babies: a boy named Sonny and a girl named Cher.
Cast
, Pittsburgh, PA.
* Dennis Quaid as Lawrence Wetherhold
* Sarah Jessica Parker as Janet Hartigan, Lawrence's love interest later 2nd wife
* Thomas Haden Church as Chuck Wetherhold, Lawrence's adoptive younger brother
* Elliot Page as Vanessa Wetherhold, Lawrence's youngest daughter
* Ashton Holmes as James Wetherhold, Lawrence's oldest son
* Christine Lahti as Nancy
* Camille Mana as Missy Chin, James' girlfriend
* David Denman as Dr. William Strouse
* Scott A. Martin as Weller
* Don Wadsworth as Hadley
* Richard John Walters as Parking Lot Attendant
Production
The film was originally set at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., but filming an independent film in that city was deemed too difficult. Filming at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh occurred in November and December 2006. The house used as that of the Wetherholds is in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Friendship. The shooting schedule was compressed by Hollywood standards, at 29 days. Rachel Weisz was initially cast as Janet Hartigan, but was replaced by Sarah Jessica Parker before filming began. According to 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.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack from 'Smart People' was released on April 8, 2008 and contained music by Nuno Bettencourt.
# "This Is Your Life" by Nuno Bettencourt.
# "Q.P.D." by Nuno Bettencourt.
# "Stitch" by Baby Animals.
# "Early Checkout" by Nuno Bettencourt.
# "Need I Say More" by Cherone.
# "Rush You" by Baby Animals.
# "Lotus" by Nuno Bettencourt.
# "Flow" by Nuno Bettencourt.
# "You Still Need Me" by Baby Animals.
# "School Girl Crush" by Nuno Bettencourt.
# "If Only" by Nuno Bettencourt.
# "Hamburger In Bed" by Nuno Bettencourt.
# "Pursuit of Happiness" by Nuno Bettencourt.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 50% of 151 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Despite its sharp cast and a few laughs, Smart People is too thinly plotted to fully resonate." According to Metacritic, which assigned a weighted average score of 57 out of 100 based on 33 critics, the film received "mixed or average reviews". The 'Los Angeles Times', 'The Wall Street Journal', and 'The New York Times' all gave the film more positive reviews. 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. 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 $11,839,695.
References
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