The Words

A film about writers for writers
Lay aside the critical reviews that have filleted this movie, and perhaps even your friends and family that didn't get it.

If you are a writer, you will get it.

The meat of this movie is as much about the struggles living up to expectations as it is about plagiarism. The pressures to have a "real job" and the approval you seek from those around you and what price you are willing to pay to hang on to that approval. When you feel it is your calling to be a writer, you constantly are filled with self doubt. Will I ever be good enough? Will my writing ever be good enough?

Because these are the driving forces of the film, of course it isn't some after-school special aimed at bringing an end to plagiarism. It is structured around the choices we make in building our lives. What are we willing to sacrifice for success?

While the nested stories could have gone very wrong, the film is well-executed and not hard to follow. And while Dennis Quaid...

Literary lovers delight, my wife and I enjoyed it on the screen
Already my wife wants another viewing. I'm prone to agree. We're 2 book addicts, drama film lovers, and this film's depth is not often seen in big screen theater. It's about sacrificing integrity for fame and money. It details how an unscrupulous decision can implode and create collateral emotional damage to cherished people. The Words is presented in storyline layers, woven together like literature, not easily tracked by those simply looking at action, FX, and adventure. THE WORDS is intellectual with a capital WOW.

Hammond (Dennis Quaid) writes a story about an ambitious, but not stellar, young writer Rory (Bradley Cooper) who has ripped-off an unpublished manuscript written by an old man (Jeremy Irons) over 60 years earlier. If you don't understand `plagiarism', stop here and don't bother viewing. It's the entire plot in one word. The story progresses in the same fashion as a bestseller novel, layers woven together, scenes jumping from 2012 to 1940 Paris, and back, from...

'The Words' will speak to you
In The Words, Bradley Cooper stars as Rory Jansen, a struggling writer that stumbles upon a briefcase which contains a story that holds the key to launching his career. Shortly after publishing the story, success launches his career. However, an old man (Jeremy Irons) confronts Jansen about publishing this 'thought to be' lost story and from there a plot line within a plot line within a plot line unfolds - all of which revolves around the overlying theme: fame/success vs. choice/consequence. Yes, there's also some romance. Zoe Saldana, Olivia Wilde, and Dennis Quaid co-star.

It's easy to say the plot becomes predictable about half way through the film (and it does), but films don't always have to be about the sudden 'twist' ending that nobody saw coming. Sometimes it's nice to watch a film and think about the meaning behind the story - in this case it's about the choices we make that affect our lives and the lives of the people around us. It's especially interesting...

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