Review of The Words at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.
Bradley Cooper’s likable performance fails to save pretentious literary drama The Words.
A stellar cast featuring Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Irons; polished production values and a lush score by Marcelo Zarvos make the literary drama The Words a shiny Sundance bauble with little of dramatic value beneath its sparkly surface. First-time filmmakers Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal aim for a highbrow debut via a philosophical plot about creative ownership, multiple flashbacks from present-day New York City to 1940s Paris and crisscrossing narration. As the closing night film of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and acquired by CBS Films prior to its festival premiere, The Words brings Sundance to a close with a resounding thud. The earnestness of The Words’ cast and crew is evident throughout the movie and its core plot about an author’s dishonesty is compelling after the recent events surrounding author James Frey and his made-up memoir A Million Little Pieces. Still, The Words is a tangled mess of a drama that falls far short of its lofty goals despite the charms of its leading man Bradley Cooper.
Rory Jansen (Cooper) is a struggling writer unable to convince publishers or literary agents to take a chance on his work. Everything changes when Rory and his pretty wife Dora (Zoe Saldana) buy a worn leather briefcase at a Paris vintage shop. Inside the briefcase is a lost manuscript that Rory rewrites and pitches to an agent as his own work. When it turns out to be a critical and commercial hit, Rory’s left facing a moral dilemma; especially when the book’s true author (Jeremy Irons) contacts him.
Cooper’s handsome looks and likable personality goes a long way towards helping The Words but its scattershot storytelling quickly overwhelms his performance. It’s disappointing that co-writers and co-directors Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal fail to focus primarily on Cooper’s character because he’s the best thing about the movie.
Cooper captures Jansen’s frustrations over wanting literary greatness so badly and coming to realize it might not be in his future. Cooper’s affable personality also complements perfectly Jeremy Irons’ edgy performance as the elderly man who confronts Jansen.
Together, they spark The Words’ best scene as Jansen meets the old man on a Central Park bench and comes face-to-face with his own dishonesty.
Irons is a joy to watch in The Words but he also brings about one of the film’s great frustrations because you want to see more of his old man character.
Unfortunately, Klugman and Sternthal, who collaborated before as writers on Tron: Legacy, have loftier goals than a straightforward drama and quickly abandon Cooper and Irons for multiple flashbacks showing Irons’ character as a young man in Paris (Ben Barnes) and a perplexing alternate plot involving acclaimed author Clay Hammond (Dennis Quaid) telling the story of Jansen and the old man to a pretty grad student (Olivia Wilde).
To their credit, Klugman and Sternthal gather together an impressive cast but it doesn’t matter because they smother them with dizzy storytelling.
Olivia Wilde is nothing more than eye candy in the movie and Ben Barnes’ flashback scenes showing the origins of the lost manuscript fail to make an impact. Zoe Saldana fares better as Jansen’s pretty wife and helps deliver the film’s core message about artistic honesty.
Dennis Quaid looks great as Hammond but his character turns out to be a source of great frustration.
Klugman and Sternthal also bring together a talented crew including composer Marcelo Zarvos (Beastly, Sin Nombre) and cinematographer Antonio Calvache. In terms of sheer technique, on matters of lenses and lighting and production details, Klugman and Sternthal make an impressive debut with The Words. On the subject of storytelling, well, let’s hope The Words and its multi-layered mess of a plot will convince them to aim for a more simple story next time.
Director: Brian Klugman, Lee Sternthal
Screenwriter: Brian Klugman, Lee Sternthal
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Irons, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde, Zoe Saldana, Ben Barnes
Producers: Benaroya Pictures, Animus Films, Serena Films and Waterfall Media
Distributor: CBS Films
Cinematographer: Antonio Calvache
Editor: Leslie Jones
Music: Marcelo Zarvos
Running Time: 96 minutes
Rated: Unrated