Fame, Fortune, and Love. All that a struggling writer could ever dream of, right? What would he do to obtain those qualities in life, to gain acceptance, respect, and above all integrity in his work? An aspiring writer would do anything to achieve his goals and find success, right? Rory Jansen would do whatever it takes to reach those goals, but at what price? At what cost would he do it?
Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper) had always been a hopeful writer but for years money had not been a luxury he attained. To support the love of his life Dora (Zoe Saldana) and to end borrowing money from his father (J.K Simmons), Rory paid his dues and worked at rock bottom for a publishing company. Always writing in his spare time, Rory now had the opportunity to make it in the writing business. Having been turned down many times before, Rory knew he had to gain the confidence to get an amazing piece published. Months went by even years and his belief in himself was low but possibly a trip could change that, right? Time away is just what he needed, time for inspiration, time to think.
Shortly after getting married, Rory and Dora honeymoon to Paris. In an old antique shop, Rory found what would change his life forever: the words that would change his life forever. Shortly after finding the old leather binder, Rory obtained just about everything he wanted. Love, Fortune, and Fame. As everyone knows though, some things are too good to be true. There’s a catch to everything, right?
The Words is the layered love story about the compelling life of Rory Jansen who, at the peak of his literary success, comes to realize the consequence he has to pay for stealing another man’s work. With an incredible ensemble including Jeremy Irons, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde, and Zoe Saldana, The Words is a movie that captures a triangle of love stories in such a way that I have never seen before. The style that was used by layering the three love stories and wrapping them almost all into one was done extremely well and really made the story have a nice flow. When one story was at a peak it flipped to another making you eager to see what was next and whenever a movie can keep you excited throughout, you know it’s great.
Co-Director and Co-Writers Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal portrayed the story in such a fantastic way that could have left any audience member pleased. The Words is a love story but that truly isn’t the major component of the movie. I honestly didn’t feel like I was watching a boring love story; it was full of drama, so for those who don’t particularly like love stories, like myself, the movie is still very good. The story isn’t a happy one, and by the way the story was revealed I don’t think it was intended to be. What I really admired about The Words though, is that it was a story that allowed the viewer to really reflect in a more broad sense. The movie isn’t unveiled black and white. It leaves you making you think about the subject of the story and I feel whenever a film does that, the movie was very well done and well thought out.
Of all of the excellent aspects to the movie there is one in particular that stood out to me. The best piece of the entire movie was having Jeremy Irons casted as the old man. His story and the way he told it made me feel as if I was there. Whenever Irons spoke I had the sense he was talking to me. The conversations and stories he exchanged with Bradley Cooper were absolutely perfect and the body language alone that Irons expressed could have told the story by itself. That really just shows what an amazing actor Irons really is and having never seen Irons in another movie before I was very impressed.
“We all make difficult choices in life. The hard thing is to live with them.”
-The Old Man, Jeremy Irons
Overall, The Words was definitely a pleasant surprise. I expected it to be slow moving and very average but it was much more than that. It showed three fantastic stories wrapped into one, which I feel could have captured any viewer’s attention. The Words was very well done and anyone who is in the mood for an intense, drama filled love story should definitely see it!
