"Smart People" Review

Sadly, the preview for "Smart People" was a lot better than the film turned out to be.

The worst thing in indie films is when there is no real character development. And, to make it even worse is when there is a small, tiny amount of character development that comes at the very end of film and it is forced. The character doesn't really learn anything about themselves, instead they just force themselves to "evolve" into a different person, without any real motivation.

I thought I was going to like the film. I laughed a number of times in the preview. And those times were when I laughed in the film. There's hardly any family development, or explanation as to why certain events happened. The do elude to a number of circumstances surrounding the events that have made Dennis Quaid act the was he does in the film. He's a very eccentric and aggravating character, who seems to live in his own world, and doesn't connect well to anyone, even those who are attempting to help him, after a seizure.

Thomas Haden Church is amazing. I really enjoyed his acting, despite how much I didn't really care for his wayward laxidazical attitude. His interactions with Ellen Page (yeah, she's shown up like 4 times in my life in the past week...?) are odd and caused me some serious discomfort while watching.

Page's character did provide a number of numerous wit, although it was almost all delivered in the same tone as she did in "Juno". Which comes out tomorrow on DVD - Yippy! What a good flick!

Sadly, I can't really say I enjoyed the film, for the simple fact that nothing significant happens, and like I previously stated: The only character development that happens in the entire film comes in the last five minutes and it forced. And that sucks. The entire time I was watching, I was waiting for the moment when something would happen, but it never did.