Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ellen Page

Into the life of a widowed professor comes a new love and an unexpected visit from his adopted brother.

Flixster Users

42% liked it

96,998 ratings

Critics

49% liked it

136 critics

R, 1 hr. 33 min.

Directed by: Noam Murro

Release Date: April 11, 2008

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DVD Release Date: August 12, 2008

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Stats: 5,123 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (5,123)


  • August 25, 2009
    Fantastically funny and intelligent.
  • May 16, 2009
    Couldn't finish watching. The beginning was terrible and boring. Snooze Alert!

    Still love Ellen Page though just not this movie.
  • March 22, 2009
    A very enjoyable and utterly wonderful comedy. An intelligent, well-written and superbly performed film. Smart, witty, outstanding, engagging and hilarious. An excellent, touching and remarkable movie. A teriffic balance between comedy and drama. Every performance is pitch perfec...( read more)t. Dennis Quaid has never been better, a magnificent and great performance. Ellen Page is fantastic once again, winning our hearts with her charm, rebellious attitude and teriffic charisma. Thomas Haden Church is brilliant, his flair for comedy dazzels once again and you cant help but love him in this movie. Sarah Jessica Parker confirms herself as a movie star. These four actors work incrediably well together on the screen bringing lots of love and life to the characters.
  • March 2, 2009
    thomas haden church's performance is all thats needed for this film to be recommended, but it also has a charm to it and it was very interesting. it also suffered unfortunately by incredibly underdeveloped sub plots and a rather cold ending. overall, good flick.
  • January 30, 2009
    I find it quite conspicuous the way this film is most certainly not called Nice People. I don't really know how smart you can call a person who uses thier intellect primarily to belittle and alienate other people. These people are smart in the same way Calvin from the comics is s...( read more)mart: he will be able to explain the theory of gravitation in detail, then how he dropped a pitcher of lemonade while rollerscating. From such smarts, such stupidity. Like habitually parking illegally and acting surprised when it's towed. Only valuing one's son when a peom of his is published. I especially liked how the main character's book is only published because its condescending tone is considered a novelty. I found the frostiness with which Ellen Page greeted Sarah Jessica Parker really interesting, as it betrays her sadness about losing her mother. She keeps maintaining that her father isn't ready to date, which is a smart-person euphemism for SHE'S not ready for her father to date. As comedies go there are ones that are way funnier than this, but it rings true and therein lies its merit.
  • November 18, 2009
    I thought this was a really great look at destructive personalities. While the characters might be funny on the screen, they are very realistic and sad. How someone can go through there life acting like they're better than everyone else is horrible. Ellen Page was priceless at be...( read more)ing a young republican and ordering everyone around. Dennis Quaid also gave one of the best performances i've seen from him in a long time.
  • November 18, 2009
    This movie combines the cuteness of Little Miss Sunshine with the wit of Juno and the humor of both. Ellen Page...( read more) essentially plays the same precocious character as she does in Juno, but she's more realistically flawed and likeable in Smart People, and the incredible aspects of her character seem to matter less here. This movie could easily do without some of the subplots (the political flyering) and coincidences (Sarah Jessica Parker just happens to see Dennis Quaid twice in the same evening after his follow-up medical exam), but is redeemed by some good comedy relief provided throughout the film by adopted brother Thomas Haden Church. All-in-all a cute entertaining film if you're in the right mood for it.
  • November 6, 2009
    A differenza del resto del mondo, mi è piaciuto parecchio.
    Cuori per Ellen Page.
  • November 1, 2009
    It was a pretty good comedy drama, Thomas Haden Church is the funniest of all... being smart just doesnt make your life better.
  • October 22, 2009
    Page and Church were def the highlights for me, providing that wonderful dry humor that I love so much.

    ** review to be continued **

Critic Reviews


April 20, 2008
Pete Hammond, Hollywood.com

REALLY smart people will probably wait for the DVD release. full review

April 14, 2008
David Edelstein, New York Magazine

[A] middling romantic comedy. full review

April 14, 2008
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

The excellent script for Smart People is the work of Mark Jude Poirier, a fiction writer who has clearly spent enough time around English departments to have studied the tribal ways of the literary pr...

April 11, 2008
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

Smart People made me happy from start to finish. full review

April 11, 2008
Claudia Puig, USA Today

Though the principals are so appealing with their smart, comical exchanges, the film's forced situations keep it from being the clever, engaging tale it aspires to be. full review

April 11, 2008
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

The thorny dialogue, the rancorous arguments, the unexplained surliness of Lawrence's son -- all that nasty stuff melts away, covering up plot weaknesses in a warm glow of nuclear-family bonhomie. full review

April 11, 2008
Kurt Loder, MTV

...comically self-absorbed gloom... full review

April 11, 2008
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

There's a gulf between what Smart People should be and what it actually is. full review

April 10, 2008
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

Memo to the Miramax marketing department: You might want to think about changing that title. full review

View more Smart People reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • xxhisgoldeneyes
    August 12, 2008
    This movie looks good.I'm looking forward to watching it.








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Smart People Trivia


  • Did Ellen Page stared in movie Juno and Smart People?  Answer »
  • Who was an English professor in Smart People ?  Answer »
  • Where did Laurence teach in Smart People ?  Answer »
  • What is Laurence's adopted brothers name in Smart People ?  Answer »

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