Movie Review: The Words

The Words 

Also Known As Pictures, Benaroya Pictures, Animus Films, Rose Pictures, Serena Films, Waterfall Media, USA, Canada, 2012. 

Author Clay Hammond (Dennis Quaid) has written a new bestseller The Words and is reading it in a public reading happening. The book tells about author Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper) and his wife Dora (Zoë Saldana). Rory is a struggling author who has to borrow money from his dad (J.K. Simmons) much to his dad's annoyance. Get a real job, son! On a wedding trip to Paris Rory finds an old script. Frustrated as his own writer's career does not catch fire and being stuck on dead-end job he decides to transcript it. As Dora reads the text and loves it, Rory has no other alternative than to publish it. The book becomes a smash hit but a lie has short legs and the original writer (Jeremy Irons) appears. Oh, the wrong choices and how to live with them.

Clay Hammond

Rory and Dora

Old Man

Mystery/romance story has a interesting narrative as Hammond is reading his own story. And yes, the idea of a story in a story has been used before ("Princess Bride" and "The Fall" for example) but so what. "The Words" smartly leaves room for interpretations and makes the viewer thing about the weight of mistakes. It is clear that Hammond and Rory are the same person, but how much is fact and how much is fiction is left open. The old man telling his own story adds one layer more and makes to think how great works and talents go unnoticed or how artistic passion may destroy the lives of the loved ones. It is a well written and touching story and keeps the suspense of what is going to happen next until the end. It is also a good story about inspiration and the agony of creation.

Cooper and Saldana have a good screen chemistry, and no wonder as they were dating at that time. A lot has been about the unimportance of Olivia Wilde's character literature fan Daniella but she has an important function for being the listener of Hammond's own arc. Witness me!

Daniella

It has good music by Marcelo Zarvos and it is beautifully filmed too. 

Rating: Very good

Starring: Dennis Quaid, John Hannah, Jeremy Irons, Bradley Cooper, Zoë Saldana, Vito DeFilippo, Michael McKean, Lucinda Davis, J.K. Simmons, Olivia Wilde, James Babson, Kevin Desfosses, Ron Rifkin, Brian Klugman, Liz Stauber, Ben Barnes, Nora Arnezeder, Gianpaolo Venuta, Raphael Grosz-Harvey, Brent Skagford, Andrew MacKay, Zeljko Ivanek, Gloria Cooper, Weston Middleton, Lee Sternthal, Holden Wong, Daniel Gervais, Anders Yates, Jean-Marie Montbarbut Du Plessis, Robert-Paul Chauvelot, Leni Parker, Sébastien Pilote, Émile Rivard, David Gow, Kathleen Fee, Keeva Lynk, Jeanie Hackett, Gordon Masten, Jude Beny, Mark Camacho, Carly Granovsky 

Directors: Brian Klugman, Lee Sternthal