I wanted to see this movie because (a) it looked funny and (b) I love Simon Pegg. Honestly, he makes me laugh so hard. And I’m not a huge sci-fi fan, but I am hyped about the new Star Trek because he’s in it. Then Jessica told me the movie was funny so I went to see it and it didn’t fail to live up to my standards.

 

Premise: Dennis is getting married to his pregnant girlfriend. He freaks out and runs out on her. Five years later, he’s a lame security guard at a woman’s clothing store and gets to see his insanely cute son, Jake, on a pretty regular basis. In comes his ex-lady love, Libby, who is dating Whit (played by Hank Azaria). Whit is “Peter Perfect”, great job, great looks, great apartment. He is everything Dennis is not. It’s the age old tale of trying to prove to your baby mama why you’re better than the rich, successful, hot guy she’s dating by entering a marathon. Actually, Whit tells Dennis he’s running in the Nike River Run, which is no big deal (yeah, running 26 miles is no big deal…I had memories of me in a 5k running through my head) since he does charity marathons all the time. So lazy Dennis starts training. Which is horrible. Then he gets some much needed assistance from his friend Gordon (played by the guy who played David in Shaun of the Dead) and his landlord, Mr. Gansasdjfoho (I really don’t know what they were saying). After many failed attempts and many mishaps, Dennis has to decide whether or not it’s really worth running because Libby doesn’t seem to be running back to him. I think there comes a time in everyone’s life where they have to look back at the reasons they’re doing something and evaluate the validity of those reasons. In Dennis’ case, it took the thought of losing his son as motivation to get his pasty white legs out to the marathon.

 

Without giving too much away, Dennis almost doesn’t make it and runs on a sprained ankle far after the race is over, proving he will not give up. This race isn’t necessarily about a woman or a bet or to beat Whit, but because he needs to, for once, not run in the wrong direction.

 

One of my favorite parts was when Dennis reaches “the wall” which is the place all runners get to in a race. Whether it’s at “5 miles or 25 miles” they all reach a point where they hit a brick wall and can’t get past it. Can’t breathe, can’t think, they just can’t seem to get around it. All of a sudden everyone else is gone, the night is calm but there’s a huge brick wall in front of Dennis. He can’t go around it because it’s too long and he can’t get through it. Finally one brick gets pushed out and he gets on his tiptoes to see himself on the other side waving him over. I think this was a poignant part of the movie because, whether we’re runners or not, we all reach the wall. Everyone comes to a point in their lives where they can’t go on. We just slump down against the wall and try to give up. I think the wall is in everyone’s lives because we have to learn to persevere, to step back, get a running start and smash through it.

 

Anyway, there were some very funny and heartwarming parts throughout the movie. I loved seeing the flashbacks to the times when Libby and Dennis were happy. I thought Dennis’ relationship with his son was so great because he really did want the best for him, even if it meant getting arrested. And Hank Azaria’s character was really funny, one of the guys you love to hate…and love. And as a sidenote (because I am the IMDB queen), there’s a locker room scene where Hank Azaria is powdering “himself” after a spinning class and he’s talking to Dennis completely nude. If there is a nude scene in movies, the guy puts a flesh colored sock like thing to cover up any anatomy. But Hank Azaria decided to forgo it in this movie thereby making Simon Pegg’s reactions completely real. Knowing this before hand is pretty funny because you can see him trying to get through the lines without laughing or wincing.  

 

Right before the movie started, a lady walked in with three kids, all under the age of 12. That was distracting enough because I didn’t think it was little kid appropriate, but of course, they sit right next to me. I’m sitting in the perfect seat (I was the first one in the theater) but she sits on my row with the kids who were asking for popcorn and candy the whole time. More than that, I was cringing at some of the parts (particularly ones of sexual nature and curse words) because I didn’t think those kids should’ve seen some of that. But they weren’t my kids so whatever.

 

By the way, yes, I cried. It was a heartwarming movie, but I’m a sap and cry at a lot of things. I say this movie is worth your $9 (even though I had a free movie coupon for it).

 

Rating: Four out of Five Metal Spatulas

Smart People is mediocre, rather than smart. Like most movies, it was one that took up just under two hours of my life because I had very little to do (besides study for the GRE, of course) but it only provided mild entertainment for that period of time. It was at times slow, and more often, uncomfortable. The basic premise of the movie: irate widower professor gets hurt, causing him to rely on the assistance of his daughter, estranged son and adopted slacker brother. Brother moves in, son continues to stay far away at the college his father teaches at, daughter continues to be prodigal child while obviously dealing with severe social problems. Professor meets doctor who used to have a student crush on him. They date, break up, date, he gets more distant from his daughter, things go haywire, have to decide how to put their lives back together. The point of it being can smart people truly acclimate to society (or are they destined to stay distant and strange to all the normal people?)

 

I guess my main problem [which seems to be the problem of critics as well] is that none of the characters seem warm or genuinely likable. They all have their moments, but it’s more few and far between. There are some funny lines and some interesting dynamics, but for the most part, I didn’t feel like I was rooting too much for anyone because none of them were all that likeable.

 

That being said, Ellen Page, was pretty great. I think her character was supposed to be unlikable. I think we were supposed to feel uncomfortable with a 17 year old girl who has no friends and volunteers at the Republican society on Christmas Eve and knows all the words on her SATs. She wears dowdy skirts with long sweater vests and is the quintessential nerdy girl who would rather translate the Christmas recipe from old French than just be a normal teenager. But I think it’s okay for her character to be like this and face a transformation because she is seventeen years old and has yet to realize how she should grow up with her weird father and without her mother. [Sidenote: Jessica just brought up a good point. Ellen Page is now doing the whole cynical teenage girl thing really well. There was Juno which was so different from the straight-laced girl in this movie, but they’re both essentially the same. They are both struggling to find what they need out of life. But maybe that’s just the point of being a teenager. You’re still trying to figure out what everything means and how you fit into the world. I’m not a teenager, but I’m still trying to figure that out. I just hope she’s not 30 years old and still playing that same type of role.]

 

You can contend Dennis Quaid’s character should be able to act the way he did because he lost his wife, but I just didn’t feel it. I never felt drawn to him, I never felt like he was acting in any way except selfishly. But maybe that was the point. Maybe he was supposed to be selfish so at the end he had to decide whether to accept little doctor girlfriend and his brother and his daughter and his son or if he just continues on being a jerk and stay miserable.

 

I felt bad for the son who tries to stay away from his father, but still comes around the house and lets his dad barge into his room because it’s his dad. I might have liked some more development on him simply because he was more interesting than the rest of them. In the beginning he seems average, but in truth, he is smart just like the rest of them (he’s a poet).

 

Thomas Haden Church failed to impress me, but perhaps, it was because his porn ‘stache was really gross to look at. And his naked butt. He at least gave some dichotomy to the family, proving that you don’t have to be socially inept all the time, even if you are smart.

 

And shout out to the guy who plays Roy on “The Office”. He was cute, funny and gay!

 

In the end, I feel just okay about the movie. It ended the way it rightfully should have. A lot of critics were saying it wasn’t that great because the characters were pretty wretched [one in particular said they didn’t understand how Sarah Jessica Parker’s character could fall for a crotchety old guy like Dennis Quaid’s character]. They didn’t do any character development to give you a reason to believe she was any better than him. Sure, she was the head of the E.R. and drove a really cool Audi, but she lived in a crappy apartment and freaked out after intimacy. Does someone being a doctor make them any less neurotic or any more fantastic than a professor? I think one day I’ll be a professor and I sure hope I don’t turn out like him, but sometime people are a little nutty. Truth is, everyone is a little nutty, and some just conceal it better than others. Some just hide it so far down that is never gets out. But it’s there whether you want it to be or not. At least in their case, they both found someone to best compliment that part of them.  

 

So, be the best person you can possibly be and let those around you help you be a fantastic  you. Even us smart people.

 

Rating: Three out of Five copies of “You Can’t Read”