A droll comedy about a widowed English professor (Dennis Quaid), his
hypercompetent Young Republican daughter (Ellen Page), and
his underemployed adopted brother (Thomas Haden Church), Smart
People lulls you with cliché—the professor is of the
absentminded variety—and then sideswipes you with plot
twists, sly jokes, and truly brilliant delivery. I’d quote an Ellen
Page line about tax write-offs right here if it weren’t utterly unfunny
on paper. Smart People is just a funny, sturdy, touching movie
about the way grief keeps on rippling. (See Movie Times.)

Annie Wagner is The Stranger's former film editor. She was born and raised in Capitol Hill, but has since lived in such far-flung locales as Phoenix, AZ, Charlottesville, VA, and Wedgwood. After graduating...