It could be because they are mostly cherry - picked group of
citizens,
middle -
class to
upper -
middle -
class, involved in sculpting, painting, dancing, yoga, reading, and taking long walks along the leafy roads in and about San Luis Obispo.
With ABOUT SCHMIDT, Alexander Payne fixes the same acute eye he used in both
CITIZEN RUTH and ELECTION to once again rip the façade of wholesome gentility from the
upper middle class of the heartland of America and to show us the savagery beneath.