'The Best and Brightest' not always funniest.(Ticket)(But a fine cast and an intelligent script make this adult comedy a cut above many)

Byline: Serena Markstrom The Register-Guard

The premise of "The Best and the Brightest" is not likely to resonate all that well in Oregon, where jockeying for position in the finest private kindergartens is not an activity that consumes much parental energy.

That barrier is surmountable. Who doesn't love to laugh at rich people and their problems? Wouldn't it be fun to laugh at the pretentiousness of those who think the fate of their children is decided at the age of 5?

Maybe it would, but "The Best and the Brightest" never quite makes it clear what the target of the lampoon is. As a result, we are left with a movie with underdeveloped protagonists sporting murky motives and an ensemble cast of characters (caricatures ) who on the whole can't deliver a satire that digs deep enough to be a meaningful social commentary.

Written by Josh Shelov and Michael Jaeger and directed by Shelov, "The Best and the Brightest" opens Wednesday at the Bijou for a nine-day special engagement.

The Bijou is one of a few dozen theaters running it ahead of its intended nationwide release, said Edward Schiessl, who programs for the theater.

The independent comedy had a limited 2011 release, but according to to the film websites Internet Movie Database and Rotten Tomatoes it has not been reviewed in mainstream media.

Jeff (Neil Patrick Harris) and Sam (Bonnie Somerville) are a couple from Delaware who decide to move to New York for "one last shot at the dream." They find it difficult to enroll their daughter, Beatrice, in private school because they haven't been scheming to do so since the day she was conceived.

They seek aid from Sue (Amy Sedaris). While their situation seems hopeless, Sue takes a liking to Sam and her fiery determination.

Dressed inexplicably the whole movie in fashions from the 1990s, Sue comes up with a plan to spice up Jeff and Sam's application so they can stand out from the competition. Sue recasts Jeff, a computer programmer, as a poet - and it gets them an interview.

But Jeff and Sam have a child-care crisis when it's time to meet the school's headmistress. They have to settle for leaving their daughter with Jeff's friend Clark (Peter Serafinowicz).

Clark is a man-child living with his rich father. His hobby is frequenting sex clubs and engaging in digital dirty talk with his partners.

A semen-stained transcript of one of Clark's sessions ends up in Beatrice's application, and the headmistress finds it, creating the film's first sustained funny scene. As the prim Katharine (Jenna Stern) slowly utters its raunchy lines, the filth does indeed start to sound poetic.

The deceit gains momentum during a book club meeting. There, educated rich people analyze a whole book of Clark's "poetry," which Jeff is passing off as his own edgy work in an effort to impress the school's board members.

The film is full of plot twists and sexual humor that is more interesting than your average mainstream comedy, and it has some good performances. But it explores too many possible avenues of ridicule; it couldn't possibly develop them all, so it ends up developing none.

That leaves "The Best and the Brightest" in the awkward position of being smarter than the average mainstream comedy, but not as funny.

Maybe the movie is a commentary on how easy it is to suck seemingly good people into illicit behavior under the influence of social pressure. Or maybe the target is the aspirations of middle class folks who still seek the American Dream.

Or maybe social commentary isn't the point at all. If so, then it's just fine as a silly comedy with many absurd moments, spiced up with far wittier writing than normally hits the big screen.

MOVIE REVIEW

The Best and the Brightest

When: Opens Wednesday

Where: Bijou Art Cinemas, 492 E. 13th Ave.

Tickets: $7