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Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: While Smart People, wouldn't necessarily have taken off with a different leading actor, Quaid's self-conscious characterization calls attention to the artificiality of the story's construction. Read more
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Nobody does steely quite like the basso-voiced Page -- her Vanessa is a sort of Young Republican version of Juno. Read more
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: It's impossible to tell whether the film's ending is happy because it's happy or because it's ending. Read more
Kyle Smith, New York Post: Smart People is an indie film that plays the (jangle, jangle) same chords (strum, strum) as a lot of other heartfelt comedies about too-wise children and codgers taking humanity lessons. Read more
David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: [A] middling romantic comedy. Read more
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The characters are credible and sharply observed and all four actors go to town. Read more
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Smart People made me happy from start to finish. Read more
Tasha Robinson, AV Club: It's a discomfiting character study in which compelling, convincing acting and lively dialogue help mitigate the feeling that none of these people are worth spending time with. Read more
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: First-time director Noam Murro successfully creates a world you want to spend time in, even if it's a world marred by self-absorption and missed opportunities. Read more
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: None of the characters' or the filmmakers' knowledge illuminates, deepens, or complicates this movie in a way that keeps you from thinking longingly of Curtis Hanson's Wonder Boys. Read more
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: The thorny dialogue, the rancorous arguments, the unexplained surliness of Lawrence's son -- all that nasty stuff melts away, covering up plot weaknesses in a warm glow of nuclear-family bonhomie. Read more
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Quaid and Church are funny, but too much of this film is not half as smart as it thinks it is. Read more
Tom Long, Detroit News: Smart is indeed the word for Smart People, an extremely well-acted film that manages to be simultaneously funny and troubling. Read more
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The fun of Smart People, which was written by Mark Jude Poirier and directed by Noam Murro, is seeing Quaid bite, with darkly funny and misanthropic gusto, into the acrid soul of a man whose life has curdled. Read more
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: One of those sadly dependent independent films, every bit as formulaic as any Hollywood blockbuster. Read more
Kevin Craft, Miami Herald: Unfortunately, Smart People has nothing original to say about its characters' dilemmas, but is content to tread waters that previous films have navigated with more humor and insight. Read more
Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Quaid finds what is funny and endearing and worthy in the character, and his performance holds this fine, if somewhat fragile, film together. Read more
David Denby, New Yorker: In his first film as director, Noam Murro creates moments of comic disconnection, relieved by minuscule surges of warmth. He's very precise; he has a nice touch. Read more
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: In what world does Smart People exist? Clearly not the real one, though this dramedy wants to think it's filled with ironic insights about love and family. Read more
Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Call the cops. Oscar nominees Ellen Page and Thomas Haden Church steal Smart People right from under the noses of its ostensible stars, Sarah Jessica Parker and Dennis Quaid. Read more
Rex Reed, New York Observer: So much good work must not go overlooked. I just loved this movie because it's witty, intellectual without being pretentious, and filled with characters who are logically stressed and anxious to connect to a world outside of themselves. Read more
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: When you toss this many balls in the air, several are bound to be forgotten. Read more
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: The overreaching script by novelist Mark Poirier is intermittently funny. One gets the sense that Poirier was aiming for Scrabulous dialogue but his movie is barely of Boggle quality. Read more
James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Those who find comfort in competently made but overly familiar stories may enjoy what Smart People have to offer. For me, it was too thin to truly satisfy. Read more
Jim Emerson, Chicago Sun-Times: Parker, cast as the Life-Affirming Option, comes across as rather drab. Quaid disappears beneath his beard and into his role, yet because Lawrence is such a remote character, it's hard to care much. Page's role is pretty thin and monotonous. Read more
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Memo to the Miramax marketing department: You might want to think about changing that title. Read more
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: There's a gulf between what Smart People should be and what it actually is. Read more
Dana Stevens, Slate: As tough as Lawrence is to like, Smart People is even harder to hate, mainly because of the sharply observed script by novelist Mark Jude Poirier. Read more
Christy DeSmith, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The film brandishes the same anti-intellectual cliche we've heard time and again: Extremely smart folks are inherently unpleasant, uptight and unhappy. 'Tis better to be a touch dumb. Read more
Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Just one person saves Smart People from being completely wretched. It's the presence of Thomas Haden Church. Read more
Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: Call it a 'could see' -- something you can drop in on when you have nothing better to do and emerge from feeling not at all cheated by the experience. Read more
Claudia Puig, USA Today: Though the principals are so appealing with their smart, comical exchanges, the film's forced situations keep it from being the clever, engaging tale it aspires to be. Read more
Dennis Harvey, Variety: It ends up less a dark comedy than a medium-gray one, the impact further muffled by its marinating in a tepid pool of generic soft-rock sounds. Read more
Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice: It's all action, no reaction. One minute they're miserable; 90 minutes later, aww better. Read more