Smart People
Rated: R
It seems like an oxymoron to call a film a "generic indie" but I can't think of a better description for Smart People, a film that would love to be the next Little Miss Sunshine but is merely one of the many copy-cats who had its heart in the wrong place and wasn't trying to make a winning film as much as a film that would win over those who couldn't tell the difference between a light-hearted family film and an obvious ploy for your cash so drenched in cynicism and bland, broken people that it would take a fairly clueless viewer to be duped simply by the acerbic tonality and moments of Thomas Haden Chruch’s bareass that they were watching an independent comedy. It should be noted that Smart People is no more an independent film than Little Miss Sunshine. A low budget does not make an independent film nor does off-beat subject matter. Smart People thinks it effectively mimics the indie tonality with Dennis Quaid's prick of an English professor his Republican daughter (Ellen Page), his wash-out of an adopted brother (Church), and an ER-doctor/love interest (Sarah Jessica Parker) with less character than what I had for breakfast (granted, my Honey Smacks do provide stiff competition) and how they interact. There's not one memorable or unique thing about Smart People. It's trying to mimic films that actually dared to use their indie status to do something they couldn't get away with as a big-budget feature. But the small story is just small-minded and every time some crappy emo-indie-folk song starts playing, you're just reminded of the film's vapid and soulless nature. The film almost destroyed me but it couldn't snuff out Church's expert comic timing and delivery. He is the film's sole positive quality. Unfortunately, he's not in every scene and doesn't have every line so for the rest of the runtime you'll just have to wish you saw a real indie instead of a cheap imitation. Words by |