Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) might be imperiously brilliant, monumentally self-possessed and an intellectual giant – but when it comes to solving the conundrums of love and family, he's as downright flummoxed as the next guy. His teenaged daughter (Ellen Page) is an acid-tongued overachiever who follows all too closely in dad's misery-loving footsteps, and his adopted, preposterously ne'er-do-well brother (Thomas Haden Church) has perfected the art of freeloading. A widower who can't seem to find passion in anything anymore, not even the Victorian Literature in which he's an expert, it seems Lawrence is sleepwalking through a very stunted middle age. When his brother shows up unexpectedly for an extended stay at just about the same time as he accidentally encounters his former student Janet (Sarah Jessica Parker), the circumstances cause him to stir from his deep, deep freeze, with often comical, sometimes heartbreaking, consequences for himself and everyone around him.
This is one of those artsy "comedies". It is nowhere near laugh out loud funny. Actually, its not really funny at all. Its a character piece with some really good actors and that's the only thing that makes it end up being watchable. Its one of those movies that's just sort of there. You can't for the life of you figure out why someone deemed it necessary to make - but they did and good actors signed up for it so you watch it and keep pushing through the moments of boredom because you figure that it has to get better. But it never really does. Its just kind of there.
I wouldn't really recommend anyone rushing to check this movie out. Its not that its a bad movie. Ultimately, it is watchable but you definitely find yourself going over a checklist of things that you could be doing instead of watching it.
