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Smart People

Smart People

Comedy · Drama · Romance · 2008

Professor Lawrence Wetherhold might be imperiously brilliant, monumentally self-possessed and an intellectual giant -- but when it comes to solving the conundrums of love and family, he's as downright flummoxed as the next guy.

Movie details

Smart People

“Sometimes the smartest people have the most to learn”

2008 Comedy · Drama · Romance 1h 35m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.1 / 10

23.6K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

50 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

57 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

5.9 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Professor Lawrence Wetherhold might be imperiously brilliant, monumentally self-possessed and an intellectual giant -- but when it comes to solving the conundrums of love and family, he's as downright flummoxed as the next guy.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Smart People?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Noam Murro

Written by

Mark Poirier

Dennis Quaid

Dennis Quaid

Lawrence Wetherhold

Sarah Jessica Parker

Sarah Jessica Parker

Janet Hartigan

Thomas Haden Church

Thomas Haden Church

Chuck Wetherhold

Elliot Page

Elliot Page

Vanessa Wetherhold

Ashton Holmes

Ashton Holmes

James Wetherhold

Christine Lahti

Christine Lahti

Nancy

Camille Mana

Camille Mana

Missy

Court is in session

Put Smart People on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.