Smart People
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Metascore
57 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 33 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.4 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 72 Ratings

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  • Starring: Dennis Quaid, Thomas Haden Church
  • Summary: Professor Lawrence Wetherhold might be imperiously brilliant, but when it comes to solving the conundrums of love and family, he's as downright flummoxed as the next guy. His teenage daughter is an acid-tongued overachiever who follows all too closely in dad's misery-loving footsteps, and his adopted, preposterously ne'er-do-well brother has perfected the art of freeloading. A widower who can't seem to find passion in anything anymore, not even the Victorian literature in which he's an expert, Lawrence seems to be sleepwalking through a very stunted middle age. When his brother shows up unexpectedly for an extended stay just as he accidentally encounters a former student, Janet, the circumstances stir him from his deep freeze, with often comical, sometimes heartbreaking consequences for himself and everyone around him. (Miramax)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 33
  3. Negative: 1 out of 33
  1. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    88
    A sharp, superbly acted character-driven comedic drama.
  2. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    75
    Page and Church work so brilliantly together as a comic team that it's worth enduring the leads' utter lack of chemistry together - not to mention the fact they're both wildly miscast.
  3. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Zack Haddad
    60
    It is just too bad that this film isn’t as snarky and groundbreaking as it would like you to think it is.
  4. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Ryan Stewart
    38
    Dennis Quaid is mostly lost at sea as Lawrence Wetherhold, the Carnegie Mellon lit professor; he apparently saw fit to tinker with his performance as filming went along, greeting us in some scenes as a noticeably swishy highbrow, while at other moments he's channeling the smiling, drunken menace of Nicholson's Jack Torrance.

See all 33 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 27
  3. Negative: 9 out of 27
  1. MickyJ.
    10
    Loved it. Because of the cast and maybe the marketing, people were expecting something other than the intelligent, thoughtful, and intimate dark comedy that this is. Amazing performances from all the leads, sharp writing, and top-notch directing make this one of the best films of 2008.… Expand
  2. CraigA.
    8
    Coming of middle-age drama about a university professor who begins the film as an overgrown infant and ends it as every student's favorite lecturer.… Expand
  3. KellyB.
    7
    Slow start, but the story picks up and ultimately works. Page's character as a Republican is not credible, but has no adverse affects on the plot. Can Republicans be "smart people"? Perhaps, but its been awhile. All said, I enjoyed this film. My 16 year old daughter enjoyed this film, which is surprising.… Expand
  4. TonyB.
    4
    Ellen Page and Thomas Haden Church are the only reasons to see this one. Sara Jessica Parker is adequate in a poorly written role, but Dennis Quaid is not even that.… Expand

See all 27 User Reviews

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