As students at Georgetown, we know smart. Campus is swarming with budding intellectuals, professors with multiple master’s degrees and over-achieving students.

So Mark Jude Poirier (CAS ’91), a Hoya in his own right, had a lot of background experience to work with when writing Smart People, which was originally written to take place at Georgetown. The brainy characters in Smart People offer a dark, clever look at the dysfunction that can befall even the smartest of people.

Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) is a recently tenured English professor at Carnegie Mellon, a candidate for chair of the department and is on the brink of having his most recent book accepted for publication. In spite of all these successes, Lawrence has forgotten how to live life. Following the death of his wife, Lawrence is now self-absorbed, grouchy and completely unmotivated. He is out of touch with his students, and when it comes to his kids, his family and even himself, he hasn’t a clue as to how to deal with them.

His self-pity and surly demeanor shine through in his interactions with his pitiable adopted brother, Chuck (Thomas Haden Church), the gate attendant at the towed-car lot and his doctor, Janet (Sarah Jessica Parker), who treats him after he unsuccessfully attempts to hop a fence.

Janet, a former student of Lawrence’s who once harbored a crush on him, is now a grown, successful doctor. While it’s never quite clear why Janet was attracted to Lawrence, she has the potential to help snap him out of his funk. Janet is tough, smart, brave and forward: all characteristics that catch Lawrence off-guard. It’s been a long time since he’s faced such passion and he begins to realize that this might be just what he needs in his life.

Poirier agrees, but adds that really they are helping each other. “I think she’s in as much of a rut as Lawrence, and she’s living her own version of misery. Because Lawrence realizes he’s damaged and reaches out to her, their relationship does seem to be a little less doomed towards the end.”

Lawrence’s daughter, Vanessa (Ellen Page), has unwisely chosen her father as her role model. She is the queen of all things that have to do with extracurriculars and high test scores, but she has become fully incapable of making friends or interacting with people her own age. Lonely and passive-aggressively bitter, but whip-smart, she has become the head of the household. Vanessa is very similar to the Page’s breakout role as Juno, and Page plays Vanessa in a similar manner, as in her facial expressions and her deliverance of witty lines. But Vanessa is much less likeable.

While Chuck is optimistic about life in general, he does nothing with his own life. He is a laid-back, unabashed flake and has perfected the art of freeloading. Realizing Vanessa isn’t happy, he promotes subversive behavior to try to get her to have fun, encouraging her to act more like a teenager.

Poirier relates to the ruts that members of the family are in, especially Lawrence and Vanessa. “Vanessa seems to be under the impression that once she goes off to Stanford, all her problems will disappear,” he said. “I think I was under that false impression when I was 18, preparing to leave Tucson for Georgetown. My problems followed me to Georgetown.”

Traditionally a short-story writer and novelist, Poirier originally envisioned Smart People as a novel. But writing it as a screenplay appealed to him. “I use a part of my brain that I don’t use while writing fiction.”

The Wetherhold family is suffering from a severe lapse in communication. They are all having immense trouble connecting with others, even though they really all want the same thing. Poirier points out that Lawrence, realizing he’s miserable, has lead him to make significant changes in his life — “just not what one would normally consider a big step in a film.” Poirier explains, “I think the biggest step he takes is facing Vanessa, helping her to realize that she needs to change.” In facing Vanessa, he has to face the fact that he’s been horrible father for many years, allowing her to run the household, not noticing she has no friends, never asking her where she wants to go to college,” he elaborates.

Smart People beats all quirky family comedy/dramas for pure cynicism. The dark tone throughout the film is its strength. The reality is that depressed, smart people don’t immediately change; they slowly — if at all — join the rest of us by accepting our faults and trying to do something to change our ways.

Smart People brings a new dimension to a quirky family film: The story of the Wetherhold’s honesty and gloom makes for a unique look into a dysfunctional family, leaving audiences questioning their own arguably functional families.