Movie Monday - The Words

I promise not to give any spoilers. But I will say that I liked this movie up until about the final 15 minutes of it.

The Words bases itself on an interesting premise. It's a story within a story within a story.

Dennis Quaid is an author who has written a story about Bradley Cooper, a writer who has found and published a story by Ben Barnes without giving Ben Barnes any credit. But then Jeremy Irons shows up to say "Wait. I'm Ben Barnes." and things get all wonky. But, of course, this is all happening in the story which Dennis Quaid had written. So there's actually no Bradley, Ben/Jeremy in the "real" world.

And, you know, I was perfectly okay with that for most of the movie. I thought it was all handled really well. I liked the characters (for the most part), and I thought the movie was styled really believably (we watch Bradley's character go from unemployed to best-selling author - and his hair styles changed with him, which is something that usually only happens to women in movies).

There's a very cool kind of morality play happening throughout the movie, too. Not only are we watching Bradley deal with the fact that he's taking credit for someone else's work, but we're watching the characters around him react and deal with it all.

And then there's the whole writerly aspect of it, too. That was cool. Watching the different writers and their processes.

But then there was the end. Which just left me wanting... something different.

Still, I'd recommend the movie - and I'd recommend it for watching at a time when you can truly focus because the first 3/4 of it are quite beautiful at times.

Overall rating: B-

Bonus review: Oblivion. As with The Words, I recommend this movie, but I'd also recommend leaving this one about 15 minutes before the end. Unless, of course, you have any fantasies of... well... boinking with Tom Cruise and, let's say, a stunt double Tom Cruise. In which case, watch the whole movie. (And, no, there is no Cruise on Cruise boinking - that's just... well... you'll understand what I mean if you watch the full movie.) Overall rating: C, because it wanted to be more than it was and simply didn't live up to its potential.