Good idea lost in the noise

Am I Missing Something?

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

The film was OK - not great but good enough to watch to the end (which is a rarity these days) but............... I recognised the instrumental from Led Zep's 1970's track "That's the Way" from Led Zeppelin III - it's a bit naughty really. About 30 to 35 seconds of it from around 52mins to 53mins. I was actually singing the lyrics as it was playing and congratulating the film makers on their taste - then............... no credit? How can they get away with that?

A sideways look at at household of smart people and you come away thinking that they also have dysfunctional lives.Dennis Quaid is Doctor Wetherhold a misanthropic literature professor at a Pittsburgh University.He loves literature but has lost his passion teaching it and lost his passion in writing. Maybe because he is so up himself that no one reaches his high standard apart from his robotic, young Republican daughter who is friendless.His son who shows gift as a writer has little to do with him and Wetherhold has been living a lonely life since his wife died and would be regarded as a social misfit.When he suffers a fall Wetherhold is treated in ER by a former student (Sarah Jessica Parker) and he takes his first tentative steps to reacquaint himself with life out there.When his adopted brother (Thomas Haden Church) turns up who is a bit of a waster, he ends up chauffeuring Wetherhold around and loosens up his daughter by introducing her to drink and drugs but she has a crush on him.The film is a melodrama with some humour provided mainly by Church. Its an independent film taking a sideways look at an intellectual family who are a little in the deep end. Church plays someone who is a little bit too much like his character in Sideways and both him and Quaid have some bad facial hair. They should had grown real moustaches or beards.

Carnegie Mellon English Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) is a miserable widower English Professor at Carnegie Mellon. His son Jame (Ashton Holmes) goes to the college. His daughter Vanessa (Ellen Page) is an overachieving Republican high school student. His car gets impounded and he gets injured trying to climb the fence. His ER doctor Janet Hartigan (Sarah Jessica Parker) used to be his student. She reports his head injury to the DMV and he can't drive for six months. His slacker adopted brother Chuck (Thomas Haden Church) needs a place to stay and Lawrence needs somebody to drive him. Lawrence is not happy about it.The father is utterly miserable. The rom-com with Janet is tiring. The romance is awkward at best with very limited comedy. I really can't see the chemistry. Ellen Page tries to inject a bit of fun along with Thomas Haden Church. At least, they are funny and not quite so bitter. They make this watchable.

Once in a while these tiny movies come along that really brighten your day and give you a sense of identification instead of alienation. Smart people made by director Noam Murro is certainly one of them. The story evolves around an estranged and disconnected family very much similar to 'The Royal Tenenbaums' but with more believable and real quirks.Dennis Quaid plays the widowed prof. Lawrence Wetherhold as the pater familias in a way that reminded me very much of Harrisson Ford as Indiana Jones. Only without all the artefacts and Nazis to chase. The tone of his character is set on early in the movie by his double parking and complete unwillingness to remember the names of his students. The Beatles song 'Fool on the Hill' comes to mind when describing his character. Ellen Page plays the daughter in a way she does best just as in the recent blockbuster Inception: a slightly irritating know it all. Church and Parker play the stepbrother and love interest. It's a small film about real people with some very funny moments. A breeze of fresh air amidst all the bombastic action blockbusters. It's about smart people and their trouble with how to live actually. Being brilliant doesn't necessarily make you happy, but they try each in their own way to attain some happiness and connection. Ironically, the dumbest character in the film ends up to be the glue that holds them all together.