REEL CRITICS:

“Smart People” has a smart screenplay with enough good acting and directing to make it a cut above the usual Hollywood effort. It starts out looking like a predictable tale of a dysfunctional family with academic overtones. But it quickly turns into an intriguing and amusing character study of a bunch of misfits with a wide variety of personality flaws.

Dennis Quaid plays an arrogant English literature professor who is a certified jerk on many social levels.

His daughter is an equally arrogant Young Republican played with acerbic wit by Ellen Page of “Juno” fame.

Sarah Jessica Parker is the doctor who treats the professor after his conceited behavior leads to a nasty head injury.

Thomas Haden Church of “Sideways” is the unemployed brother who plops on the couch to become the professor’s unwanted helper after the injury.

All this sounds like a typical sitcom, but the players stretch their roles with sharper wit and dialogue than the material suggests.

The characters grow and evolve under the pressure of unfolding events. It’s Dennis Quaid’s richest performance in many years.

The fine supporting actors make each scene worth watching. Overall, it’s a pleasant surprise at the movies.

‘Street Kings’ drama deserves no crown

I expected better of “Street Kings,” as it was based on an original story by James Ellroy, who wrote the brilliant “L.A. Confidential” a few years back.

Instead, we get a movie as riddled with clichés as it is with bullets.

Keanu Reeves stars as Tom Ludlow, a renegade alcoholic loner cop (did I leave anything out?). When he’s bad, he’s very, very bad; and when he’s good, he is Keanu.

Beneath that Robocop exterior also lies a tortured soul, at least as far as we can tell from the actor’s expression. Tom seems to almost have a death wish but those pesky bullets practically bounce off him. And of course, his gun never misses.

But the dialogue sure does. Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, as Tom’s doting commanding officer, gets to sputter lines like “You were toe to toe with evil, and you won!” At least he won’t need an exorcism.

Hugh Laurie gives a wry performance as an Internal Affairs captain who seems hellbent on catching Tom doing very bad things. Why didn’t he stop him from making this movie? This could have been much more fun if Tom had been on a runaway bus.

JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office. SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a financial services company.