Smart People is a 2008 American comedy-drama film starring Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Elliot Page, and Thomas Haden Church.

Carnegie Mellon English Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) is a widowed parent of an alienated college son, James (Ashton Holmes), overachieving high school daughter, Vanessa (Elliot Page), and sibling to an adopted ne'er-do-well brother, Chuck (Thomas Haden Church) whom he cannot evade enough.

His step-brother Chuck is without a place to sleep or a job, so Vanessa sets up what he characterizes as a "win/win" solution — he will be Lawrence's live-in driver.

During a contentious family Christmas dinner at the Wetherholds', Janet arrives with a cake, unexpectedly though Lawrence had invited her earlier.

Finding him preoccupied with his book's publication, and with an ongoing campaign to become chairman of the English Department, Janet is again upset by Lawrence's self-absorption and breaks up with him without telling him the news.

Back in Pittsburgh, Lawrence is confronted by James and Chuck, who both point to his apparent lack of interest in his children's lives.

[6] Rachel Weisz was initially cast as Janet Hartigan, but was replaced by Sarah Jessica Parker before filming began.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Despite its sharp cast and a few laughs, Smart People is too thinly plotted to fully resonate.

[12][13][14] In its opening weekend, the film grossed an estimated $4.2 million in 1,106 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #7 at the box office.