The Playlist:
A combination of shopworn literary clichés combined with an “Inception”-worthy daisy chain of White People Problems, “The Words” fails to surpass dramatically the bland lack of specificity in its title while still offering a solid roundup of performances from its talented ensemble cast. Brian Klugman and Lee Bernthal, who received story credit for “TRON: Legacy” (a film I liked a lot), wrote and directed this flashback-laden tale of a novelist coming to terms with his life and work by writing a book about a novelist coming to terms with his life and work.
Jeff of We Got This Covered wrote, "The Words is a film with a fascinating story at its core. It revolves around a writer, Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper), who puts everything he has into writing a book that ends up being rejected by every publisher he submits it to. Just when he thinks his writing career might not take off, he happens upon a valise that contains an old manuscript for a novel written 50 years ago, telling the tale of a young soldier who falls in love with a French woman."
A prolific actor with many film and TV credits to his name (Cloverfield and Castle among them), Brian Klugman has now added writer/director to his repertoire, making his filmmaking debut alongside lifelong friend Lee Sternthal on The Words.
The hilariously overwritten novel at the center of The Words, The Window’s Tears, is so blatantly melodramatic that one of the film’s biggest logic holes comes from the clamor over the novel by supposedly legitimate publishers. The biggest hole is the majority of the narrative, a terribly generic story wrapped in a layered screenwriting conceit that takes little time to figure out and even less time to see through.
I saw some previews to this a while back and to be honest I have to say that even the previews were boring. I know I wouldn't pay to see this movie. I might watch it at home if it came out on tv and there was nothing else on and then again I probably would just find something better to do with my time.