The Words

Sandwiched between a Hangover sequel and the Oscar-worthy Silver Linings Playbook, Bradley Cooper also found time for a somber literary fantasy about creative ownership and the ethereal nature of characters, ideas and crippling writers block. Yes, it?s every bit as ?exciting? as that sounds.

The Movie:

What is The Words really about, anyway?

Is it the story of struggling writer Rory Jansen (Cooper), who?s fed up with his stalled, fragmentary professional life despite the presence of supportive fianc?e Dora (Zoe Saldana) and a patient father with a limited income (J.K. Simmons)? Is it the story of a mysterious old man (Jeremy Irons), who wanders into Rory?s life with a lengthy tale about romance and tragedy during time of war--a story the best-selling author doesn?t want to hear? Or might The Words actually be about successful novelist Clay Hammond (Dennis Quaid), who?s book ? titled The Words, of course ? seems to be about Rory, the old man, and a few other devices I?ll leave for you to discover.

The Words doesn?t seamlessly gel is because co-directors Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal can?t calculate how to make all three storylines gracefully merge in a fashion that maintains literary tension or, sadly, the audience?s interest.

They have an excellent hook: Jansen, while on a honeymoon in France, discovers a manuscript in the pocket of a briefcase his new wife purchases. When everyone who reads the novel ? from Dora to his publisher boss ? raves about the magnificent piece, Rory accepts credit for the book (and the spoils that come with literary notoriety) while ignoring that nagging guilt of not actually writing the book in question.

The moral quandary is enough to sustain the drama in The Words, with Irons twisting the metaphorical knife deeper into Cooper?s conscience by showing up and claiming to be the actual author of the published words. And both men muster the proper reverence for the art of storytelling, and the power strung-together words can have over an audience. There?s a great scene in The Words where Irons is telling his life story to Cooper, who hangs on every word, even though this is a man who can ruin him, professionally and financially.

Yet, Klugman and Sternthal construct a bookending device that?s not only unnecessary, it strips the impact away from Cooper?s quandary. By introducing Hammond, and suggesting that Cooper and Irons are merely characters in a separate author?s story, we?re no longer as concerned about their fates, and therefore no longer as concerned about The Words as a whole. The drama is undone by the overly clever narrative structuring. The conceit is deflated by its convoluted nature. There?s a stellar story lurking in The Words, if only some of the superfluous words could have been left out.

The Disc:

Ignoring my argument that The Words needed to be pared down and more focused, CBS Films has put an extended special edition of the film on the DVD release. I chose the theatrical cut when sitting down to review The Words, and had absolutely no desire to revisit a longer take. Maybe there?s a fourth plotline with more characters whose contributions add nothing of significance to the overall story. If you manage to see the extended cut, do let me know if it somehow improves the overall experience.

I did, however, watch ?Unabridged,? which was a conventional behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film. This pairs nicely with ?A Gentleman?s Agreement,? an extended conversation with Cooper about his participation in The Words and his collaborations with the two directors. Neither feature is overly informative. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun working on The Words. It?s clear they felt the material would play better than it does on screen. Words on a page often do.

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Dennis Quaid, Jeremy IronsDirected by: Brian Klugman, Lee SternthalProduced by: Laura Rister, Cassian ElwesWritten by: Brian Klugman, Lee Sternthal

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The Words

Sometimes the success or failure of a film shouldn?t be measured by totaling how many things it does right and how many it does wrong. Sometimes the better gauge is whether the movie remains interesting throughout.

The Words is supposed to be complicated, but at times, it?s needlessly so. It follows people being read a book about a character who is being told the true story behind the main character in a work of fiction. Apart from giving the screenwriters the ability to comment on their own work--which, by the way, is annoying and stupid--there?s not a single reason why this extra layer is necessary. Coupled with a tendency to gloss over rather than actually analyze and a rather strange pacing, there?s a hell of a lot that could be improved upon, but The Words still works because it offers a story viewers will want to see through to the end. Even as it ambles in wrong directions and inserts unearned tears, it never feels like a waste of time. Like one of the women listening to the story, we need to know how it ends.

Well before we get that satisfaction, we?re introduced to Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper). He?s a struggling author and far less importantly, the fictional main character in successful writer Clay Hammond?s (Dennis Quaid) new novel. Rory writes mostly angry young male stuff, as he self-deprecatingly calls it, but after a few years of rejections, he takes a real job to help support his beautiful wife Dora (Zoe Saldana). They honeymoon in Paris, and at an antique shop, find an old leather satchel. Inside its pocket is an old manuscript, which problematically, is better than anything Rory has ever written.

Of course, Rory decides to steal the novel, but The Words isn?t about that decision exactly. It?s about how dozens of decisions made by Rory and the man who actually wrote the book (Jeremy Irons) all had to happen in order to give the failed author a chance to steal his critically acclaimed book. Within this framework, there are larger ideas, but given the film?s snappy runtime and the inclusion of Quaid?s useless character, most subtlety and nuance is eschewed in favor of actually showing those dozens of decisions that had to happen. Whether or not this is a bad thing depends on your expectations.

All of the focus on plot makes The Words exciting and swift. There are two good stories here, and we?re given each in a timely manner. The result is pretty riveting, but because so much actually happens, the film ruins its chance to be anything better than pretty good. We don?t really know the main characters, we?re just told details about their lives. We don?t really see the lead-ups to events, we just see the events themselves. We?re shuttled from one place to another so quickly that there?s just not much time for anything else.

The Words is the type of film that?s easy to nitpick. It?s the type that can be cast off for plenty of little errors and poor decisions, but no matter how many times it gets lost, it never loses its momentum or intrigue. A shallow good time is still a good time.

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