The Words

Written and directed by Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal; Bradley Cooper (Rory), Jeremy Irons (the Old Man), Dennis Quaid (Clay), Zoe Saldana (Dora), Olivia Wilde (Daniella)

97 minutes; 2012

 Ninety-seven minutes felt like one hundred and ninety-seven minutes.  “The Words” has a slow meaningless buildup.  Absolutely nothing happens of interest or value in the first fifty minutes.  The story catalyst occurs (when Rory’s book is published) around forty-five minutes. 

 It was beautifully photographed and the acting was unobtrusive, so I stuck around to see what would happen.  It was a film within a film, or better yet it was a story within a story.  I generally like this kind of narrative strategy and that is why I went to “The Words”.  The film is filled with mundane and stereotypical situations and events.  Rory is a handsome struggling writer with a beautiful wife and neither actor cast fits the role.  There is no sign of struggle or scraping to get by, and there is no evidence of effort to get ahead in life.  The women characters are treated like props.  Nobody has a tangible goal.  All the characters simply float forward.

 There is no indication that Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal understand that women are multi-dimensional characters.  They simply are used here as placeholders and someone for the guys to talk to.  All three women in the story functioned as a means to develop the male character they were playing across from.  It all seemed like a glossy dream, or poorly written novel.