Starring: Dennis Quaid, Ellen Page, Sara Jessica Parker, Thomas Haden Church : This past Saturday I went to see the new dramedy Smart People with a group of movie lovers (like myself) with whom I have recently become acquainted. To be honest I wasn’t overly thrilled to be seeing it but I wasn’t quite dreading it either. I just wasn’t that fond of Sideways and other films like that with the dark and subtle humor so I wasn’t sure if this movie would be entertaining enough for me. Luckily I was pleasantly surprised by how funny the movie was.
Although it has quite a few darker moments it still has a more than equal amount of comic relief from the whole cast, especially Thomas Haden Church who did an excellent job lightening the mood in the film. In comparison it had many more laughs and kept my attention better than similar films such as Sideways, Margot at the Wedding and even the Steve Carell film Dan in Real Life, which I thought was a real downer for Carell’s career. Ellen Page did a great job of course playing a highly complicated and intelligent yet easily corruptible teen with a serious problem showing emotion. Almost a total 180 from the Juno character I had most recently seen her portray. The contrast was interesting and fun to watch.
Overall if you are more of a laugh.out.loud funny kind of person then I would possibly rent this one or miss it but if you prefer a little frown with that smile then Smart People is for you.
