Smart People

My girlfriend has this thing where, when she sees a movie she likes, she’ll watch all of the movies that the ACTOR has done. She’s done this with Johnny Depp, Al Pacino, Keanu Reeves, and most recently, Robert Downy Jr. They’ve all been men and men she thinks are hot. She’s only chosen one woman, that I know of, to follow and that woman is Juno’s Ellen Page.

She’s a young actress, so there aren’t many movies to see. Xmen 3, Hard Candy, and Smart People. She always plays young girls in her movies that seem much older and more mature than they look. She’s pretty much cornered the market at this point. You need an actress to look 13 going on 30: Jennifer Garner... wait... Ellen Page!

Smart People is no exception. It’s the story about a cranky old college professor/widower (a bearded Dennis Quaid) his two kids, and his adopted brother (Thomas Haden Church). Oh, and Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker shows up to try to make him happy again.

To tell you the truth, I kinda liked it. It was nothing special, but I was pleasantly surprised.

AND HERE’S WHY

Three years ago, I heard buzz of a movie called The Squid and the Whale starring a bearded Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney (not bearded). It was on just about every critic’s top 10 list of 2005, so I wanted to check it out. The movie was about some intellectuals going through a divorce in 1986. I didn’t like the movie at all. It depressed me. I was in a good mood when I started watching it, and was depressed when it was finished.

Smart People started out with the exact same feel as The Squid and the Whale. So, immediately, I was depressed. Dennis Quaid even looked like Jeff Daniels, for goodness sakes. Happily, the movie took me in the other direction. Thank goodness. I was happy I saw it.

I liked Smart People because I hated The Squid and the Whale.

I wonder how many other movies are out there that I liked because I was in the right place at the right time. Or how many movies I hated for the same reason. I hated Swordfish because I saw it at the drive in and I HATE the drive in... Maybe that really was a good movie...