The Words

The script is childish, the dialogue and "great novel" bits are godawful sloppy and boring, and the whole thing reeks of people who don't read talking about writing. But it's kind of fun to see such great actors make an end-run around the worst script of their careers. Quaid and Wilde are lost causes, but everyone else is fun to watch. The DP puts in some good work too. It's trash, but sort of charming in a three-legged-dog kind of way.

The problem here is really the total lack of subtlety and the dependence on a promising, poignant, but also formulaic structure of a novel-within-a-novel (or film-within-a-film), arranged by long and pretentious literary speeches about life and fiction. (And yes, I believe Cooper is just fine -- if there is a bad performance here, it comes from Quaid.)

Finally a great movie that is about a writer. Sometimes I can't stand watching movies about writers because they focus on the type of drugs, alcohol or dangerous stunts that these budding writers get into to "find their story" or "experience life". I just get so sick of that self destructive behavior. This movie was a little different. It was about a man who copies another man's work. The acting was great and the story flowed very smoothly. Also Jeremy Irons has an awesome voice.

Unfolds like the slow-motion dismantling of the world's most boring matryoshka.

Not even bad, just bland.