MovieTime

Review

by Julie Rigg

Dennis Quaid plays Lawrence Wetherhold, a widowed professor whose approach to the world is sarcasm. Somehow he's raised his two teenagers, son James, a would-be poet who has fled to a college dormitory, and daughter Vanessa (Ellen Page) who copies her father's intellectual snobbery. When the Prof breaks his leg after a ludicrous accident his shambolical brother Chuck moves in to chauffeur him. And the doctor in casualty, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, turns out to be a former student to whom Quaid gave poor grades. Mysteriously though, she likes him.

I had some hopes for this film about the redemption of a curmudgeon, especially with the delightful Ellen Page (Juno) as the snobbish daughter, and warm, goofy Thomas Hayden Church (Sideways) as Chuck. But it's a second-rate script and it's directed with such a heavy hand by Noam Munro, a former commercials director, that most of the characters drove me nuts. Quaid is so arrogant and Page so snooty I wanted to slap them both; there is no way I could believe Sarah Jessica Parker's character could be attracted to Quaid. Only Thomas-Hayden Church's Chuck has any warmth.

Look, I am not silly enough to believe that the only worthwhile movies are about likeable people. Often the opposite is true. But there has to be some sort of insight, and this has none. I hope Noam Munro doesn't direct any more movies till he's worked out what makes a good one

Director: Noam Murro
Cast: Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Haden Church, Ellen Page, Ashton Holmes, Christine Lahti, Camille Mana, David Denman
Producer: Michael Costigan, Bridget Johnson, Michael London, Bruna Papandrea
Script: Mark Poirier
Cinematographer: Toby Irwin
Editor: Robert Frazen
Music: Aaron Zigman
Running time: 95
Australian distributor: Icon
Language: English
Classification: M