"B" Rating by Robert W. Hammerle

"Smart People" is a movie that everyone can enjoy, particularly those that are admittedly stupid and miserable. After all, what better way is there to find solace and comfort in life than by seeing smart, educated people as miserable as yourself?

Actually, the strength of "Smart People" is found in the wonderful interaction of its talented cast. Miraculously, I found myself liking Sarah Jessica Parker for the first time in my life. Instead of being stuck in a character whose dresses are too short and too tight for her age, she plays a character whose hair actually gets messed up. Quite frankly, I find her far more alluring when she's slightly frumped up as opposed to appearing as some wealthy man's sex toy.

In addition, Dennis Quaid and Thomas Haden Church are hysterical as two borderline dysfunctional siblings. While Quaid is a depressed college professor still trying to overcome his wife's death, Church is his fun loving alter ego who couldn't hold a steady job and couldn't care less.

Thrown into the mix is the incomparable Ellen Page ["Juno" (2007)], who plays the uptight, over achieving daughter of Mr. Quaid. Playing a character that "Juno" would have despised, she copes with her father's dysfunctional life while trying to pursue her own goals of the model U.N., young Republicans and a perfect SAT score.

Bored and despondent, Quaid suffers an accident which lands him in an Emergency Room under the care of Dr. Hartigan (Ms. Parker). A former student, Ms. Parker is obviously attracted to Quaid for reasons that she cannot rationally fathom.

Clearly, if these two had filled out an application for eHarmony.com, they never would have been matched with the other. And yet for all of their mutual dysfunction, their unorthodox mating dance is charming to watch.

But it is the comic genius of Mr. Church that holds this movie together. Much like his character in the classic "Sideways" (2004), he is a completely lovable cad. He is a wise adolescent in an adult's body that brings equal measures of grief and amusement to those closest to him.

However, for all the obvious talents of this marvelous ensemble cast, it is the incredible young Ms. Page that once again stands out. She has a sassy irreverence that holds your attention whenever she is on the screen, and only a fool would deny her potential for greatness as an actress as she matures. One can only hope that she avoids the self-destructive conduct that swallowed up Lindsey Lohan and Brittany Spears so that she can realize her full potential as an actress.

"Smart People" is not a great movie, but it is a thoroughly intelligent, irreverent take on decent people trying to survive in a complex world. All of these characters are flawed in some fundamental way, and they are all the more lovable for it.