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ENTERTAINMENT
Video Fun House: 'John Adams' a fascinating, though long, look at history
Paul Giamatti, left, stars as John Adams in the HBO miniseries "John Adams."
Purchase this photoVideo Fun House film fans Jean Tarbett Hardiman and John Gillispie share their thoughts on the epic TV miniseries "John Adams," starring Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney, and "Smart People," rated R and starring Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker and Ellen Page.
JOHN: History can be fascinating, but it is generally something that I prefer in small doses. That is why I was surprised when you told me that you were attempting to watch the very long miniseries about our second president "Adams."
JEAN: I know! I totally geeked out, but I loved it. I should admit that I didn't make it all the way through the Pulitzer prize-winning book that it's based on, by David McCullough. I was listening to it on CD, and if I remember correctly, it was more than 20 CDs long. But it was brilliant, and from what I could tell from the HBO miniseries, it was boiled down very well for TV-watchers with shorter attention spans.
JOHN: How long is it?
JEAN: Well, still kind of long. It's three separate DVDs, seven episodes in total. The episodes are about an hour and a half long, I think. But they went really fast for me. I'm telling you, this is good historical stuff, mostly based on McCullough's research of documents and lots of letters Adams exchanged with his genius wife and all the amazing men in his life, basically our country's founding fathers. They were so well-spoken, and it's so cool that it's all preserved in letters. It made me wonder how people will know anything about us 200 years from now, because all we do is talk on cell phones and exchange e-mails with poor punctuation and grammar.
JOHN: And then we delete them anyway.
JEAN: Exactly. But I'm definitely not as eloquent and John or Abigail Adams, so I guess we're talking about apples and oranges here.
JOHN: How was the acting in the miniseries?
JEAN: Paul Giamatti as John Adams and Laura Linney as his wife are amazing in these very difficult roles. John Adams was a really complicated guy, and he changed a lot throughout the course of his life. He went from being an optimistic Boston lawyer to an outspoken member of the Continental Congress to a diplomat in Europe to the second president. He got crustier as the years passed and life didn't always turn out how he wanted, but his wife was always unwavering and full of great advice. And there are a lot of other talented actors in key roles. Tom Wilkinson is Ben Franklin, David Morse is George Washington and Stephen Dillane is Thomas Jefferson -- all very good. These historical figures had such great minds, and I would imagine it's hard to express how smart they were in a book or a movie, but "John Adams" seems the best effort I've seen.
JOHN: Speaking of smart, I decided to watch "Smart People," rated R, and starring Dennis Quaid as Lawrence Wetherhold, a literature professor and widower with a 17-year-old daughter Vanessa (Ellen Page) and college-aged son James (Ashton Holmes). Quaid's character is emotionally disconnected after the long ago loss of his wife.
JEAN: Isn't Sarah Jessica Parker in this movie?
JOHN: Yes, she plays Dr. Janet Hartigan, a former student of Wetherhold's who is now in charge of the local emergency room. She treats the professor after an accident and obviously still has a crush on him. After prodding by his brother Chuck (Thomas Haden Church), Lawrence tries to learn how to date again.
JEAN: Wow, there are some interesting actors in this movie.
JOHN: Halfway through the film, I was loving the movie's quirkiness and comedy, but then it takes a sharp turn toward the dramatic to emphasize just how lonely and isolated these characters are.
JEAN: Bummer.
JOHN: "Smart People" also displays some inappropriate behavior for a teen as played by Page, who was nominated for the Oscar for "Juno." I wish the movie could have maintained its feeling from the first 45 minutes. For a movie that is only about 93 minutes long, the second half seemed to drag a little.
JEAN: So, you spent an hour and a half watching your movie and I clocked in, oh, maybe 10 or more hours watching "John Adams"?
JOHN: Who's the smart person now?
Jean Tarbett Hardiman is a reporter for The Herald-Dispatch. John Gillispie is the public relations director for the Huntington Museum of Art. Contact the writers at jeant@herald-dispatch.com.
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