By Ashling Meehan
Cardinal Staff
The Words, which premiered Sept. 7th, is co-starring some of the industry’s biggest rising names like Olivia Wilde, Zoe Saldana and Bradley Cooper. The cast is supported along with Dennis Quaid and Oscar-winner Jeremy Irons. With such big names, and no doubt big talent, one would think this all-star cast would be able to pull off a real hit.
Sadly, you’d be mistaken.
The story line is good. Writer Clayton Hammond (Quaid) reads from his newest book, The Words, which is centered on Rory Jansen (Cooper). Jansen is an aspiring writer who can’t get published. While on his honeymoon with wife Dora (Saldana), Jansen discovers a beautifully written manuscript. After copying it to his laptop, Jansen’s new bride mistakenly believes the story to be his own and pushes him to meet with a publisher.
Can you guess what happens next?
The manuscript is published, the novel is a hit and Jansen becomes an awarded author. But the true owner of the script (Irons) takes the stage and explains what inspired him to write the story.
While most critics are spewing out disappointing words like “unimaginative” or “boring”, CNN Entertainment said that Cooper “held his own” while Quaid and Iron’s performances are sadly mediocre.
As for Wilde and Saldana, CNN describes them as either “Doe-eyed with admiration or walking out the door, with precious little in between.”
While the movie wasn’t the box-office hit like everyone was expecting, it wasn’t the biggest flop to date either. Cooper’s performance was pleasantly surprising, the actor is steadily proving that he can play in-depth characters and won’t be type-casted as the funny guy.
As a whole, the idea for the movie is beautifully imagined. Though it’s not in any way a classic, it may appear similar to Atonement, a movie about a guilt-ridden writer coming to terms with their past by ways of telling a story performed by agile actors. There’s always room for improvement; however, the female performances in The Words were disappointing. Nevertheless, the movie wraps itself up in the end, tying everything together in one big knot.
While it wasn’t horrible, unless you’re a fan of Bradley Cooper I wouldn’t rush in desperation to see this one.
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