"Smart People” is about people whose identities are wrapped up in being intelligent and educated but whose day-to-day behavior is self-absorbed at best, painfully stupid at worst. Noam Murro 's directorial debut often feels like a hastily assembled bundle of quirks, but a bright script by novelist Mark Poirier and an able cast make "Smart People” seem a little more human.

Lawrence Wetherhold ( Dennis Quaid ) i...