The Words- Movie Review

Posted by Fidelity in critical writing, movie review

Before I watched this movie I challenged myself to write a review of it. Not being in Grady anymore, I didn't want my critical writing skills to die off. Based on the previews, I was expecting a convoluted script that almost invited me to peel back the layers. Despite my anticipation of this contemplative character drama, I still wasn't ready for what I watched. The movie took me for so many loops, but they weren't the kinds of fun loops at an amusement park that I (or most normal people) enjoy. You know the ones where you go at lightning speed flipping upside down, twisting and turning when you least expect it; and just when you think you can't take anymore excitement the ride turns you around backwards and you go through it again.

Ya this movie was nothing like those rides. Instead it was like the ones that my 3 year old sister would go on while I was riding the bigger, much better ones. It was the type of twists and turns that although at first may come as a surprise, are so dull and dry that you have too much time to think during the turn that it no longer feels like a turn anymore, but instead sit and wonder when it will be over.

For me that was the unfortunate part that overshadowed all the positives of the movie "The Words". Despite a winning cast, the core idea (surprise) was too weak of a focal point and would have made an interesting segment in a movie but not the core part of a movie.

The drive home idea I got from this movie was the measures a writer would take to be successful. The shelling of underneath every prosperous writer lies a struggling one, presented an interesting idea. There's more to the story then comes to the eye. Often times, the words presented are inspired from real life experiences or people and to what effect can you quote those words as your own?

Here's tidbits of reviews from people much smarter than I:

"Writers Block"

a movie about the price one pays for great art – and that suggests ambition in its storytelling style – shouldn’t be so content to be this middle-brow.

The cast has been finely assembled; if no one is quite transcendent enough to elevate the material, they’re never worse than the lines they’re given to recite. The structure is only compelling in that the multiple threads keep interrupting one another; it builds not a sense of excitement or gradually increasing intensity and intrigue, but frustration that all these plots keep stepping over one another. And though it’s a long-known requirement that films must show and not tell, the talents of all the authors involved are proven to be less-than when we actually hear their precious words recited. Ah, the words. Any question as to why this picture has been titled thusly will be most certainly answered by the rolling of the end credits, with every character being given plenty of opportunities to extol the virtue of ‘the words,’ whatever they may be. One thing is for certain: they can’t be referring to the script.

- Simon Miraudo

"The Words Worth a Listen"

Maybe one of the reasons The Words works is because two writer-directors, Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal, guide it the screen. In less skillful hands, the story could have turned hazy and convoluted. And the script, developed at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, was at least a decade in the making.

Beyond its three-tiered, interlocking storytelling, The Words contains a series of life-changing confrontations. All three of the story’s writers face off with fellow principal characters as well as supporting characters.

Finding a satisfying ending for The Words must have been too much of a challenge for writer-directors Klugman and Sternthal. The well-crafted journey to the filmmakers’ nebulous conclusion, though, may be reward enough.

-John Wirt

"The Words Review"

The movie's trailers present an odd mix of romance and thriller genres but the film is actually more of a contemplative character drama.

However, in ferrying their own creation from start to finish, the pair stumble over a very fine line between delivering one of the year's more profound messages about life (as well as fiction) and downright drowning viewers in a mishmash of on-the-nose revelations and overly-subtle attempts at abstraction. it's a worthy effort, especially for freshman filmakers, but in its attempt to say something profound about the connection between real life and fiction as well as the ongoing pursuit of "truth" in literature, the words, without question, will prove a bit too abstract for viewers who were expecting a more traditional action/reaction storyline.

While the layered narrative successfully presents the film's fundamental juxtapositions (fiction vs. reality as well as true love vs. love of truth), only two of the three threads manage to present engrossing onscreen drama.

However, the film is non-traditional and moviegoers hoping for a fully contained drama thriller will likely be underwhelmed by the movie's attempt at addressing larger philosophical questions. Not all of the words are quite unique but the way they come together should provide a stirring experience for anyone fluent in nuanced literary drama.

-Ben Kendrick