Smart People
Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) 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.
His teenaged daughter (Ellen Page) is an acid-tongued overachiever who follows all too closely in dad's misery-loving footsteps, and his adopted, preposterously ne'er-do-well brother (Thomas Haden Church) has perfected the art of freeloading. A widower who can't seem to find passion in anything anymore, not even the Victorian Literature in which he's an expert, it seems Lawrence is sleepwalking through a very stunted middle age.
When his brother shows up unexpectedly for an extended stay at just about the same time as he accidentally encounters his former student Janet (Sarah Jessica Parker), the circumstances cause him to stir from his deep, deep freeze, with often comical, sometimes heartbreaking, consequences for himself and everyone around him.
Directed by
Noam Murro
Cast
Dennis Quaid - Lawrence Wetherhold
Thomas Haden Church - Chuck Wetherhold
Sarah Jessica Parker - Janet Hartigan
Ellen Page - Vanessa Wetherhold
Camille Mana - Missy Chin
Christine Lahti - Nancy
Ashton Holmes - James Wetherhold
David Denman - William
Scott A Martin - Weller
Production Co.
Bridget Johnson Films
Groundswell Productions
QED International
Grosvenor Park
Scheherazade Films
Visitor Pictures
Corduroy Films
Table Top Films
Produced by
Bridget Johnson
Deborah Aquila
Bill Block
Michael Costigan
Omar Amanat
Studio
Miramax Films
Writer
Mark Poirier
Music
Nuno Bettencourt
