In “Smart People” a college professor named Lawrence Weatherhold (Dennis Quaid) is an emotionally detached professional, an expert in his subject matter of literature to the exclusion of real relationships. His aloofness also extends to his family, including a daughter (Ellen Page) and a son (Ashton Holmes). In the classroom his students are interchangeable faces to him since the death of his wife some years earlier. His brother-in-law (Thomas Haden Church) takes advantage of him. When Weatherhold has an accident, he meets a doctor who was a former student (Sarah Jessica Parker). She attempts to spark romantic interest in him, and they begin to date. Everyone in the story’s dysfunctional family needs to learn a lesson about life, and each has a moment of revelation.