Grade: B+

Smart People is a smart movie with a smart cast.  The irony is that it’s about the stupid things that people do, even when we know better.  It’s a movie about relationships, and how much we need each other even when we try not to.  Dennis Quaid is a widowed professor.  His life has been pretty much on hold since his wife’s death – he’s bitter, he’s lonely, and he’s pushing people away.  His teenage daughter (Ellen Page) is a right wing conservative, trying desperately to take care of her dad.  When the professor hurts his back and is unable to drive, she recruits her adopted uncle (Thomas Haden Church) to be an on-call chauffeur.  Meanwhile, the professor meets Sarah Jessica Parker, his new doctor and his former student.  What she sees in him is a mystery, but she gives him a chance, and then another chance, and a strange romance begins.  Somehow, just when it looks like the dysfunction will continue with this family, everything falls into place.  They learn life lessons, as we all should.