If anyone is interested in carefully constructed family stories with touches of humor, sadness, and sincerity, then this film is NOT YOUR BAG. Although publicized as such, "Smart People" lacks the artistic, sensitive type of portrayal that made Tenenbaums and Squid and the Whale so successful.
The protagonists of the film traverse life-altering, "aha!" moments without any explanation or follow through. What seems like crucial developments in character and plot are simply not sold to us as real; we as an audience see no REASON for the character's change of heart or decisions. With protagonists as unlikeable and unbelievably mean-for-no-reason as Quaid and Parker's characters, I need to be able to identify with their thought processes, if not sympathize with them on some human level.
Unfortunately, this film fell short of the subtle, nicely intelligent humour I came to see in a movie titled "Smart People". We're left with heavy-handed dialogue and implausible characters with a laughable plot. Since when did the New Yorker accept poems from undergraduates at Carnegie Mellon?? Agents, beware: your services are no longer needed. The literary world has gone unsolicited.
The protagonists of the film traverse life-altering, "aha!" moments without any explanation or follow through. What seems like crucial developments in character and plot are simply not sold to us as real; we as an audience see no REASON for the character's change of heart or decisions. With protagonists as unlikeable and unbelievably mean-for-no-reason as Quaid and Parker's characters, I need to be able to identify with their thought processes, if not sympathize with them on some human level.
Unfortunately, this film fell short of the subtle, nicely intelligent humour I came to see in a movie titled "Smart People". We're left with heavy-handed dialogue and implausible characters with a laughable plot. Since when did the New Yorker accept poems from undergraduates at Carnegie Mellon?? Agents, beware: your services are no longer needed. The literary world has gone unsolicited.