Reviews of Movies I've Seen Lately

Summer is over, and the high budget blockbusters left the theatres as soon as the leaves started to fall.  I’m happy that’s the case, because it makes way for a myriad of smaller pictures with more serious themes – some of them successful, some of them not so much.  The movie that really grabbed my attention was “The Words” with Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Irons.

“The Words” is about a struggling author, played by Cooper, forced to work a decidedly non-glamorous job while looking for his big break, and how he stumbles across a manuscript on his honeymoon.  It’s fantastic – fluid, emotional, mesmerizing.  This character – Rory Jansen – then claims it for his own.  He quickly rises to fame with all the trappings that come with it – the money, the new apartment, the limo rides, and the awards.  He then is confronted by an old man on a bench – the real author of the story -that confronts Jansen on his duplicity. 

It isn’t a perfect movie – there’s an ending that’s up for debate, and the timeline is murky at best, which detracts from the punch of the conflict.  The women in this movie are ridiculously beautiful – it’s as if an average looking woman would take us all out of the fantasy this movie is trying to tell. 

What I really appreciated about the movie was the main question – what pushes us to do the thing that we swear we would never do?  What happens once those “words” – the lie – are out of our mouths?  What do we do next?  It isn’t one choice here – it’s a succession of choices that changes this character from likeable to barely tolerable.  But Cooper sells it – that moment of standing on the precipice of his morality and making the decision to jump – for pride, for respect, for love.  He isn’t caught for a while – and he’s comfortable with it – the trappings of his new fame soothe his conscience.  Or is he?  What’s the erosion of his principles doing internally?  Or does he lie to himself so often that he forgets the truth? 

Jeremy Irons – as the true author the book – is fascinating as well.  His effort to find Jansen and expose him seems fraught with consequence – but Irons – playing a character never named – only wants Jansen to know the truth.  He doesn’t need the trappings that lured Jansen in – he wants something more, something purer – to have Jansen speak out loud the acknowledgement of his rightful ownership to the manuscript.  This character knows that the truth alone will be punishment enough for Jansen.  That was an intelligent choice here – that the goal was to expose Jansen not to the world, but to himself.

If the conclusion of this movie had followed through on the original conflict – either in Jansen finally confessing his wrongdoing and finding his integrity again in the process or Jansen losing everything of value in return for money than I would have been satisfied.  But rather the movie decided to go “meta” with the introduction of Dennis Quad and Olivia Wilde, in a timeline screw up that messed with my head and made me angry at the lost potential.   I recommend this movie because the conflict is a doozy and the two main characters really nail it.  I just wish the writers had taken another few weeks to tighten up the ending.

Two other movies worth mentioning:

“Trouble With The Curve” – lost potential with great actors, but completely unlikeable characters and no true conflict resolution.  One of the rare movies that made me want to punch Clint Eastwood in the face.  The “surprise” ending was choreographed in the first 20 minutes and then we were beaten over the head with it repeatedly for the next hour.  Surprise!  Blech.

“Pitch Perfect” – surprisingly funny and touching movie with Anna Kendrick in a lead role as a member of an all girls a cappella group.  Rebel Wilson steals the show as an irreverent singer with attitude to spare.  I laughed out loud consistently throughout this movie – and the quality of the vocals was pretty good.  Fun rental with a bottle of wine and some girlfriends.