Dr. Wetherhold thinks mainly of himself and disregards the feelings of others. When his car gets towed by campus security and he breaks into the lot to nab his briefcase, then falls off the fence and cracks his head, he meets the lovely Dr. Hartigan. She, of course, has never forgotten the handsome but arrogant English Lit teacher who gave her a "C" and caused her to change her major to Biology, but he doesn't recall her at all, and also makes an ass out of himself. When he returns for his follow-up visit and asks about Dr. Hartigan, he discovers that she once had a school-girl crush on him.
The two eventually begin a tenuous relationship, much to the chagrin of Vanessa, who doesn't think dad is quite ready to date again since her mother's death years before. Neither does Prof. Wetherford, apparently, since he still has a closet full of her clothes. But try they do, although Lawrence can't stop talking about himself. He is quite clueless, even though he is so intelligent. He has no idea that his daughter has gotten early acceptance to Stanford and plans to move across the country. He has no idea that his son is involved with one of his students who is also on a board with him. He also has no idea that his brother, Chuck, doesn't really have a girlfriend that he stays with during the week. Its just an excuse to get away from Lawrence, since he has to act as Lawrence's chauffeur ever since he bumped his head and they took away his license. Eventually, Lawrence sees the error of his ways and learns to care for others. At least, I think that's what happened.
To be honest, this movie just seemed like it had no real direction. I like all of the actors here, especially Thomas Haden Church, who injects a good dose of much needed humor into the drab plot. But even that can't rescue this film from its doldrums. The characters just aren't likeable and quite frankly, the movie is painfully boring. It was a chore to finish watching it because I didn't really care what happened to this group. I will give it this. It had a great soundtrack and the music reminded me of Badly Drawn Boy and music of that ilk. Also, I tend to associate Carnegie Mellon with their terrific videogame program and excellent professors like the late Randy Pausch, not a great big jerk like Dr. Wetherhold.
The Deleted Scenes and Bloopers are amusing, but don't save this from being a dull experience. Parker, Quaid, Page and Church have all been in better roles. I suggest you check out one of their other films and leave Smart People on the shelf.
