S07E04: Smart People

Dennis Quaid fiiiinally nails the frumpy-prof part in 2008's Smart People -- but in the service of a first-draft story about damaged, pedantic, chafey people whose immaturities don't line up. One of those film-fest darlings you never hear about again until it shows up on one of the lesser Showtimes at 3:30 PM on a weekday, Smart People retreats from interesting ideas, keeps key decision-making scenes offscreen, expects us to believe a Revenge villain got a poem accepted to The New Yorker, and wastes good performances from Thomas Haden Church and Elliot Page...but at least wardrobe figured out they shouldn't make Quaid wear specs this time. The prosthetic-belly debate, the verbal fop dial, and another SDB rant about onscreen physicians not putting their hair up -- ring the bell, school's in on an all-new Quaid In Full.

Overall score: 5
QQQ score: 7.25
Days since a lost Kuffs accident: 412

SHOW NOTES

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• A.O. Scott's review
• Mick LaSalle's
• NPR's roundup
• S03E06 on D.O.A.