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The Words

Play trailer Poster for The Words PG-13 Released Sep 7, 2012 1h 36m Drama Romance Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
24% Tomatometer 127 Reviews 49% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings
When shallow wannabe-writer Rory (Bradley Cooper) finds an old manuscript tucked away in a bag, he decides to pass the work off as his own. The book, called "The Window Tears," brings Rory great acclaim, until the real author (Jeremy Irons) shows up and threatens to destroy Rory's reputation. Cut to Clayton Hammond (Dennis Quaid), a writer whose popular novel "The Words" seems to mirror Rory's story, leading to speculation that the tome is Hammond's thinly veiled autobiography.
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The Words

The Words

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Critics Consensus

Neither as clever nor as interesting as it appears to think it is, The Words maroons its talented stars in an overly complex, dramatically inert literary thriller that's ultimately a poor substitute for a good book.

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Critics Reviews

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Christopher Orr The Atlantic The story-within-a-story-within-a-story is so slight and inconsequential, like the tiniest of a set of Russian nesting dolls, that we may be forgiven for letting our minds wander toward bedtime and tomorrow's errands. Sep 7, 2012 Full Review Drew Hunt Chicago Reader The premise is ambitious -- if not a little hokey -- but the meager themes of ephemeral authorship and constructed realities aren't exactly revelatory. Sep 7, 2012 Full Review Nell Minow Beliefnet There are some random parallels between the stories and some sophomoric exchanges about truth and art, and then it does not end - it just stops. Rated: C Sep 7, 2012 Full Review Cory Woodroof Lumination Network Bradley Cooper has really got to stop doing bad things for the sake of writing. Feb 11, 2022 Full Review Richard Propes TheIndependentCritic.com The film is about characters you are unlikely to care about living out a multi-layered story you're unlikely to care about. Rated: 1.5/4.0 Sep 27, 2020 Full Review Leigh Paatsch Herald Sun (Australia) This is by no means a woeful effort, but it is a wasted opportunity. Rated: 2.5/5 Aug 14, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Blu B The musics pretty good and Bradley Cooper's performance is great along with JK Simmons but aside from that there really isn't much else I can point too that left much of an impression on me. Everything is mediocre. Going down the list: Zoe Saldana is just alright in this and has some decent chemistry with Cooper but a lot of times I just felt like she was forgettable and the script doesn't do much with her. My biggest problem with this is the overall structure of 3 stories that form a story within a story within a story is an interesting idea but I've yet to see it done right once. Most films that do just a story within a story have to walk a very fine to line and it's difficult so I can't imagine how hard it is to do to the 3rd power. Each of the three main characters get a third of the runtime roughly and it makes perfect sense. Nothing is covuluted about it at all. The biggest problem is in the middle where for 30 minutes straight Irons character comes in and we get a 30 minute flashback fo him talking about himself in the third person which was weird and it feels like this 30 minute scene should'nt have been ANYWHERE near this long. This is a 2-3 minute scene that's dragged out terribly and feels like it doesn't add up to much in the overall plot. Cooper feels like from the start of Iron's scene to the end he's forgotten about and when we jump back to him it feels like we forget about the other two. It just has difficulty weaving the three stories together and finding the right balance of how to distribute the time amongst each. This should've mainly focused on Cooper & Irons and how a writers work can reflect them as a person. But it feels like that message is lost in a muddled screenplay. I felt like the takeaway was supposed to be you live with your mistakes, don't plagerize, and writers reflect their characters but never knew how to say this in a focused/smooth manner. Than it just ends abruptly it felt like in a very anticlimatic way. The direction here isn't bad but the lighting can be dull a lot of times, and some shotts are better than others. I've seen this stealing other people's work storyline done better honestly in 15-30 minute cartoons and sitcoms. This feels like it's making it overly complicated and it isn't smoothed out anywhere near enough to make it work. Skip This and watch a sitcom episode about stealing someone elses work instead. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 11/27/24 Full Review Anna J Perfect cast and a great script. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/15/24 Full Review Georgan G This gripping movie shows how lives intertwine. And how everyone makes choices that they must learn to live with. I don't understand why the critics did not like it. Perhaps their lives are so simplistic they can't imagine how others may live. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 05/30/24 Full Review Francesca B I would not watch it a second time, but I would watch it again for the first time. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 09/04/23 Full Review Audience Member Great movie, Great plot, Good storyline moves the scenes along well. Intriguing from the beginning. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member "I loved the words more than the woman I was writing them for!" "I'm not who I thought I was... and I'm terrified that I never will be." Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Words

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis When shallow wannabe-writer Rory (Bradley Cooper) finds an old manuscript tucked away in a bag, he decides to pass the work off as his own. The book, called "The Window Tears," brings Rory great acclaim, until the real author (Jeremy Irons) shows up and threatens to destroy Rory's reputation. Cut to Clayton Hammond (Dennis Quaid), a writer whose popular novel "The Words" seems to mirror Rory's story, leading to speculation that the tome is Hammond's thinly veiled autobiography.
Director
Brian Klugman, Lee Sternthal
Producer
Michael Benaroya, Tatiana Kelly, Jim Young
Screenwriter
Brian Klugman, Lee Sternthal
Distributor
CBS Films
Production Co
Serena Films, Also Known As Pictures, Rose Pictures, Animus Films
Rating
PG-13 (Smoking|Brief Strong Language)
Genre
Drama, Romance
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Sep 7, 2012, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 22, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA)
$11.4M
Runtime
1h 36m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital
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