Baseshment
I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
Matrixiole
Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
Derrick Gibbons
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
SnoopyStyle
Carnegie Mellon English Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) is a miserable widower English Professor at Carnegie Mellon. His son Jame (Ashton Holmes) goes to the college. His daughter Vanessa (Ellen Page) is an overachieving Republican high school student. His car gets impounded and he gets injured trying to climb the fence. His ER doctor Janet Hartigan (Sarah Jessica Parker) used to be his student. She reports his head injury to the DMV and he can't drive for six months. His slacker adopted brother Chuck (Thomas Haden Church) needs a place to stay and Lawrence needs somebody to drive him. Lawrence is not happy about it.The father is utterly miserable. The rom-com with Janet is tiring. The romance is awkward at best with very limited comedy. I really can't see the chemistry. Ellen Page tries to inject a bit of fun along with Thomas Haden Church. At least, they are funny and not quite so bitter. They make this watchable.
Peace
I did not have great expectations of this film and I was not disappointed. It did deliver easy watching experience and I did not expect anything more. Acting was good except SJP was a little too bitchy and dry but maybe that was in the script, I don't know all other characters where reasonably life like. The irony is that the main character Lawrence was displeased that his book was "dumbed down" for the ordinary reader but the movie itself is "dumbed down" for the ordinary watcher... The family is portrayed as being formed out of ubersmart individuals, but as only proof of their smartness is presented use of smart words. Not a single profound philosophical concept or anything of that kind. They where presented as people who have accomplishments, but only excuse given for that was arrogance. could have been made much more enjoyable if it where written smarter...
Susan
This is a comparatively slow-moving film which takes time to explore what teaching for a long time in a university can do to some professors, and what roles single parenting can sometimes mistakenly dissolve into for both parents and their children.The role of the long-suffering, self-contained, in need of renewal/sabbatical/analysis professor was particularly well- written and acted: Dennis Quaid did a great job in this film and, as a viewer, I rarely remembered that he was acting: his demeanor, his stance, his wardrobe, his droning voice--even his eye contact--were just right.As usual, Haden-Church was the actor who made the movie zing. His "just one step out of this dimension" attitude and usual attention to perfection in his acting was a delight. He's one of our great character actors.Ellen Page compels the viewer to watch her delightful portrayal--though I am not yet willing to concede that she is one with her role yet. I continue to enjoy watching her thorough and she is going to be a great actress.I recommend this film highly for thoughtful viewers who enjoy digging into time, place and characters. It's pace is not brisk, but its rewards are great.
karenv_2003
Just because a person is intellectually does not mean he/she has the social skills to make it in the world--CAse in point Lawrence Wetherold. He is a highly intelligent English professor whose pompous attitude lead him to have no friends. He is also hung up on his dead wife Caroline to the point where after his daughter and brother donate his wife's clothes to Goodwill-he buys them back. When he meets an emergency room doctor he is smitten but doesn't know how to act and eventually loses her. This a wake up call for him as he transforms his attitude and starts to behave in a more humane way. Vanesssa, Lawrences daughter is an equally brainy type. However,she too is a social misfit as she is spending too much time getting good grades and taking care of her dad. She gets life experience lessons from Lawrences brother Chuck by getting high on pot and getting drunk at a bar. There is more but just watching this movie I got a good lesson in family dynamics and a few good laughs.
