The Words

When a movie boasts so many sought after young actors like Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana and Olivia Wilde, the odds seem pretty good that a promising script and/or director are involved. The Words is a movie about an author who wrote a book about a character that finds a book and publishes it as his own. Then when the original writer of that book comes to confront the thief, the audience finds that the stolen book is actually the story of a part of his life. It’s the Inception of the literary world. That description is a bit confusing, but it really is the story of life imitating art and the parallels between fiction and real life.

Cooper’s thieving author is portrayed as the film’s main protagonist and gives a great performance with subtle realism that flickers through a number of high and low points in the character’s situation. The main weakness acting-wise comes from the beginning of the plot wormhole, the author’s author played by Dennis Quaid. Quaid provides the bulk of the film’s narration while reading a selection from his book at a public event. But the way the veteran actor reads sounds like a fifth grader reading from their literature text book.

After a slow opening, The Words moves along well with the interweaving story lines that each prove interesting and different. The resolution of Quaid’s scenes brings the film full circle and shows a well-developed story arch. It’s also worth mentioning that the Ben Barnes led sequences are fittingly emotional. Barnes, who plays the real life version of the protagonist in the stolen book, gives a great performance. I’m not entirely sure though if the three separate layers are necessary. It just adds a bit of confusion as to who the audience should care about most. But the movie is definitely an interesting watch.

Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.