MOVIE OF THE WEEK (9/7/12): THE WORDS
"Can I be honest ... I really don't think you should kiss me right now since I just ate a triple onion and banana pepper pizza!" Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper) prepares to utter some smooth dialogue into the ears of his wife Dora (Zoe Saldana) in a scene from co-writers/directors Brian Klugman's and Lee Sternthal's drama THE WORDS. Credit: Jonathan Wenk © 2012 CBS Films. All Rights Reserved.
KEY CAST MEMBERS: Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Jeremy Irons, J.K. Simmons, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde, Zeljko Ivanek, Ben Barnes and Nora Arnezeder
WRITER(S): Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal
WEB SITE: www.thewordsmovie.com
THE PLOT: A story-within-a-story, The
Words stars Bradley Cooper as Rory Jansen, a struggling writer living
in New York City with his girlfriend Dora (Zoe Saldana). A fan of the written
word for as long as he can remember, Rory is nearing a breaking point in his
aspiring literally career as he cannot keep relying on his father (J.K.
Simmons) to front the rent each month.
Eventually taking a job at a
literary agency in hopes of one day getting his work seen, Rory eventually
marries Dora at city hall before they travel to Paris for the honeymoon. While
browsing around at an antique store in the City of Love and Lights, Dora
discovers an old leather bag she feels has character – making it a perfect fit
for her new husband. What she doesn’t know, however, is what’s inside the bag:
A novel that might be one of the greatest written works of modern times.
Discovering
the novel after submitting on his own – and rejected – works, Rory sits at his
laptop one night typing out the story word-for-word, just so he can feel what
it is like to have such a magnificent work. That’s when Dora discovers it and
raves about it to the point she insists that Rory show it to an agent at this
office (Zeljko Ivanek) …
But what
Rory doesn’t anticipate, however, is anyone one day actually stepping forth one
day to lay claim to having written the book, let alone an old man (like the one
played by Jeremy Irons). But that’s exactly what happens.
Meanwhile,
Clay Hammond (Dennis Quaid) is busy doing a reading about Rory’s story at a
fancy gathering – drawing the interest of a young woman named Daniella (Olivia
Wilde). Daniella knows a lot about Clay and is very determined to figure out
how Clay’s latest work ends. But why is she so interested in Clay and the
story?
The answer
lies in the words …
THE TAKE: The Words is a very frustrating movie not just to watch, but to review as well. For it's one of those a key-plot-point-is-convoluted-and-may-lead-to-a-spoiler-alert-notice-just-so-people-can-follow-the-story-effectively movies. But since CBS Films' (not to mention numerous reviews) have already revealed that - SPOILER ALERT! - Rory, Dora and the Old Man are actually characters in a novel written by Dennis Quaid's character, why shouldn't I as well?
Further complicating matters is the the fact that while the audience is asked to keep track of Quaid and Wilde (more on them later) in the present day, they ALSO have to keep track of not only Rory, Dora and the Old Man in the fictional story, but the it's-real-in-the-Old-Man's-life-story of himself as a young man in Paris (played well by Ben Barnes) and his French lover, Celia (Nora Arnezeder). While much of the romance between both Rory and Zora and the young man and Celia comes off as heartstring heavy, the pairing of Quaid and Wilde is ... Well ... Creepy. And not just a little creepy as in May-December romance creepy, but creepy as in stalker/potential incest happening creepy.
Throw in a lack of chemistry between the two and Wilde's wild eye gazes at every turn and the subplot completely undermines the main story ... Which is further undermined by the "real" story behind the fake story that the real author has composed. (Follow all that, did you? Good for you.) I say undermined because while you are supposed to care about Rory (and subsequently Dora), once the Old Man enters the picture, the film becomes somewhat predictable, loses momentum - all while his story fights for your attention with the two others.
Likewise, with so much focus on Cooper, Irons and the younger version of Irons' character's self, there really isn't anything for Saldana to do other than smile, be affectionate (she kisses Cooper a lot - jealous much?) and/or yell. It all adds up to a movie that feels overly melodramatic in its main story, artistic in its secondary story and ... Just wrong in it's other secondary story. You can tell Cooper really cares about making his character worthwhile; unfortunately, the movie as a whole keeps that from happening as much as he - or anyone watching it - would like.
Further complicating matters is the the fact that while the audience is asked to keep track of Quaid and Wilde (more on them later) in the present day, they ALSO have to keep track of not only Rory, Dora and the Old Man in the fictional story, but the it's-real-in-the-Old-Man's-life-story of himself as a young man in Paris (played well by Ben Barnes) and his French lover, Celia (Nora Arnezeder). While much of the romance between both Rory and Zora and the young man and Celia comes off as heartstring heavy, the pairing of Quaid and Wilde is ... Well ... Creepy. And not just a little creepy as in May-December romance creepy, but creepy as in stalker/potential incest happening creepy.
Throw in a lack of chemistry between the two and Wilde's wild eye gazes at every turn and the subplot completely undermines the main story ... Which is further undermined by the "real" story behind the fake story that the real author has composed. (Follow all that, did you? Good for you.) I say undermined because while you are supposed to care about Rory (and subsequently Dora), once the Old Man enters the picture, the film becomes somewhat predictable, loses momentum - all while his story fights for your attention with the two others.
Likewise, with so much focus on Cooper, Irons and the younger version of Irons' character's self, there really isn't anything for Saldana to do other than smile, be affectionate (she kisses Cooper a lot - jealous much?) and/or yell. It all adds up to a movie that feels overly melodramatic in its main story, artistic in its secondary story and ... Just wrong in it's other secondary story. You can tell Cooper really cares about making his character worthwhile; unfortunately, the movie as a whole keeps that from happening as much as he - or anyone watching it - would like.
PARTING SHOT: A film that's likely to leave those who see it anything but speechless in regards to how underwhelming it is, The Words might be a great case of "the book was better" ... Even though it never was.
RATING (OUT OF FOUR BUCKETS OF POPCORN):
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