Smart People Blu-ray Review (Miramax)
Directed by Noam Murro. Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Haden Church, Ellen Page.
Short bites: Smart People could best be described as Royal Tenenbaum Meets WonderBoys-Lite. The film features a wonderful cast that doesn’t really play to their strengths. The script doesn’t feel fully fleshed out. Regardless, it’s fun to watch this cast, even though nothing becomes dramatic or wacky enough at the end. As regards to it’s Blu-rayness, nothing was out and out breathtaking, compared to a Planet Earth, MIB or Hellboy. Visually, this is the best it can probably be – but it’s not a DVD to pull out to impress your friends on the power of Blu-ray.
Smart People centers around the life of Lawrence Wetherhold (Quaid) who is an English Professor at Carnegie Mellon. Wetherhold acts like he can barely tolerate the rest of humanity, even though he cares for his two teenage children and his adopted brother. After a freak accident, he encounters Janet Hartigan (Parker), a former student who is now a doctor. The two begin dating, and Parker serves as the catalyst for change–eventually for the better–in Wetherhold’s life.
The kinda creepy odd semi-incest relationship between Haden and Juno could creep some people out. But really, what did he offer to her? I guess you could say that about the relationship between Quaid and Parker.
Yes, they tried to be dysfunctional with a capital-D, but after Running with Scissors, Royal Tenenbaum, and Little Miss Sunshine, the bar has been raised very high. So they either had to raise it higher or be more dramatic – and the movie doesn’t do either. On the downside, the script isn’t as funny as it could have been, relying less on well-placed jokes and more on assumed laughter at situations which have become standard fare. The editing is also unsuccessful at masking what must have been deleted scenes, as there are a few quick moments which seem to appear without reason. Lastly is the fact that the ending comes off as a bit hurried, the most obvious flaw of which many other otherwise well-made movies tend to suffer.
We talked about the Blu-ray quality above – nothing to knock the socks off, but it looked good. Kinda what we expected. Detail is good overall and the image does have some nice depth to it, but the bland photography and uninspiring colors don’t provide much to the visual experience. Contrast is okay but the image does have a bit of a flat look from time to time. Extras include some deleted scenes and interviews with the cast and crew. A feature commentary and outtakes are also included.
Our recommendation: add it to the Blu-ray Netfix queue
Ellen Page is ‘Jane Erye’
Ellen Page is set to play one of English literature’s most famous characters, the eponymous heroine of Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre.” Alison Owen of Ruby Films, who most recently produced “The Other Boleyn Girl,” is working with BBC Films to develop the new adaptation of Bronte’s classic 19th century romance. It’s the story of a mousy governess who softens the heart of her saturnine employer Mr. Rochester, only to discover that he’s hiding a terrible secret. - From Variety
The new Oscar Nominated Ellen Page would’ve NEVER taken a part in this movie
Final poster for the film Smart People, starring Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica “Horseface” Parker, Ellen Page and Thomas Haden Church (prolly doing his Sideways shtick).
Ellen Page DOESN’T go to Hell
“The horror genre’s nasty feud with Oscar nominees continues, as Juno star Ellen Page has pulled out out of the dark place that is director Sam Raimi’s upcoming horror-thriller Drag Me to Hell. Bloody Disgusting reports that the sweet tart wasn’t happy over the latest draft of the script, which was written by Raimi and his brother Ivan Raimi, but they speculate that this is really “Oscar cold feet.” Page came aboard the film earlier this month.”
Via Slashfilm
