Review of Smart People (2008) by Chads. — 11 Apr 2008

[***SPOILER***] The young, bedsit girl on the cover of Belle and Sebastian's "If You're Feeling Sinister" has a copy of Franz Kafka's "The Trial" placed on her pillow.

Is the girl taking a break to contemplate the absurdity of human nature, or is she simply sad? Vanessa Wetherhold(Ellen Page) probably read that book aeons ago. When Chuck(Thomas Haden Church) barges into his niece's room, the Stanford-bound girl is reading Aldous Huxley's "Eyeless in Gaza".

We know with some certainity that Vanessa uses literature as an anti-depressant to curb her indescribable grief. Earlier in "Smart People", she asks a girl in a club what it's like to be stupid.

This isn't a case of an intellectual being snarky and facetious. It's a cry for help. Those party girls waiting in line for the bathroom are the smart people. Vanessa doesn't need a crazy uncle(Thomas Haden Church), she needs her mom.

You can sort of tell that dad's new girlfriend(Sarah Jessica Parker), with a baby of her own on the way, will never be the maternal figure that Vanessa so desperately needs. Janet might complete Lawrence(Dennis Quaid), but his daughter will always be a "stupid" person.

When her brother(Ashton Holmes) achieves some literary success, we suspect that Vanessa must feel a little threatened by this academic and familial one-upmanship , but "Smart People" chooses to focus on Lawrence's second chance with the good doctor.

We suspect that Vanessa doesn't want the Wetherfords to be "The Royal Tennenbaums", a family of geniuses.