By Darrin Jones / September 7
Ingredients: If you liked the drama of The Notebook, the drama of The Kite Runner, and the drama of Pride and Prejudice, then you will like this movie.So have you figure out that The Words is dramatic movie yet? And not in a melodramatic way, but more like a morality play but without the morals spelled out. Clay Hammond (as played by Dennis Quaid) is a successful author recounting his latest book. The story -- or “words” as everyone feels that’s more then enough description to encompass all literary work --is about the life of struggling writer Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper.) Rory’s writing is getting him no where until he stumbles upon a lost, unpublished novel. Through a bit of serendipity, Rory’s wife, Dora (Zoe Saldana), mistakingly believes Rory wrote the story and encourages him to have it published. Rory becomes an overnight success and gets the dream-life he’s always aspired too; that is until the true author of the book (Jeremy Irons) confronts Rory about the real story behind the writing.
There’s not a lot to tell here folks. The plot is simple and straight forward and relies heavily on the actors to carry the scenes. There is no real overall conflict, all the drama is internalized for the most part. You’re seeing people’s reactions and emotions but no one is doing anything particularly interesting with them.
Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana do have some fairly strong scenes together and good chemistry. And Jeremy Irons gives a compelling performance as well. Which only serves to make the moments with Dennis Quaid and Olivia Wilde all the more obnoxious. When you go from seeing actors throwing some passion into their performances to Quaid and Wilde’s painfully dull highbrow flirting, The Words becomes extremely boring.
But that is kind of the message of The Words, if it was meant to have one. Those who live passionate lives, such as the authors of deeply moving stories, often suffer from those same passions. Maybe The Words was meant as a cautionary tale for those that let their ambitions run too deep. Or maybe I’m grasping at straws to keep myself from falling asleep.
In the end, The Words is a well made film, a well acted film, and well publicized film. But in terms of a movie, it’s fairly unappealing and pointless. If you need your daily dose of cinematic melancholy or have to see absolutely anything involving authors, then you might find some entertainment in The Words. As for me, I’m taking my “words” and putting them to better use elsewhere. I wonder if anyone’s turned their a bondage fanfiction into a bestselling novel yet?
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