This is one of the worst films I have ever seen. I had to watch it to the end to see how bad it would be and it really was terrible. Not one of the portrayals rang true. Every major player looked like they were out for an easy payday. The post war locales in France were laughable. The storyline was totally unbelievable. All of the players have done some fine work in the past, but this really stinks.… Expand

Clayton Hammond (Dennis Quaid), a famous author, attends a public reading of his new book, The Words, centered on Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper), an aspiring writer who lives in New York City with his girlfriend, Dora (Zoe Saldana). With the help of his father (J. K. Simmons), Rory gets a job as a mail supervisor in a literary agency and attempts to sell his first novel, which is repeatedly rejected by publishers.

After living together for some time, Rory and Dora marry and, during their honeymoon in Paris, Dora presents Rory with a gift, an old briefcase from an antiques store. Returning to America, Rory finds an old but masterfully written manuscript in the briefcase with a central character named Jack. Rory types the manuscript into his laptop. Later, while using the laptop, Dora happens upon the novel and reads it. Assuming her husband wrote it, Dora encourages him to meet with a publisher, Joseph Cutler (… Expand

Interesting premise: unpublished writer steals someone's novel, passes it off as his own, and gets away with it until the original author shows up. But giving this to us as a story within a story within a story makes for at least one story too many. Plus, there are elements in the film that simply defy credibility. The original author dashed off the novel in two weeks and the book made it into print without a rewrite? I don't think so. I also find it hard to believe that an author would spend what seems like two hours reading from his book to an audience without taking questions afterwards.… Expand

Finally

This is a film with high pretensions and almost no content. It brings up issues of honesty, plagiarism, moral responsibility and finally has nothing to say about them. It's all gift wrapping and no content. The actors are all fine (Zoe Saldana is irresistible), but they are working in a vacuum. The ending, like that of Arbitrage, is annoyingly inconclusive, but so is everything else.

My wife and I saw the "The Words" today. There are no sex scenes, no fantastic chase scenes, no animation, no cutseu little kids. None of these...just a great story, with great dialog and characters so real they came out of the screen to share the popcorn. Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Irons, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde, and Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Irons, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde, and Zoe Saldana earned every dime they were paid for bringing these characters, and this story to life.… Expand

The marketing machinery behind this film would have you believe this is some kind of romantic film. And they are right as far as the "some kind" is concerned. However this is much more than the simple premise of love amongst people.
The Words turns out to be more of a psychological exploration in the exercise of denial and solitude. Although the pieces are hard to put together before the very last sixty seconds of the film.
For all of you who would be paying close attention to well laid out visuals, there is a particularly relevant scene about thirty minutes into the movie. It is more of a flash. The first time our hero is laying in bed and can't get the newfound story out of his mind. That first dream, or possibly even nightmare. It begins with him hugging his wife from behind by the stove. And in a flash we see both him and her in that same French time period as if they were the characters of the story from the past. In fact, portraying the same hug...
For some reason, those few frames stayed with me until the end of the film, and it served me well, since they become particularly relevant when Dennis Quaid finally reveals to Olivia Wilde what has really been going on all along.
I enjoyed the intricacy of this romantic puzzle very much, and I had planned to lay it out for you in these words. But I'd rather you watch it on your own and enjoy it as I did. All I'll say is this:
Don't assume this movie is what it seems. It's purposely disguised as a simple romantic premise. Pay attention to detail. Specially the similarities between the couple's New York apartment and the French apartment. And the parallel in events from past to present as certain elements are revealed amongst both couples. It's not a coincidence.… Expand

A weak 6 not a strong one. It has the worst ending in Hollywood history! You are sitting there mildly enjoying this movie and then barf! The movie just stops. This movie has one redeeming quality that maintains my attention and makes this movie worth watching. That is the Dennis Quaid factor. That man is the worst actor I have ever seen! I just love watching his movies just like I like watching train wrecks. I have seen that man march across frozen tundra, get punched by schizophrenic aliens, even get eaten by Jaws. I can surely watch him do what he does best... stand up in front of a podium like a stiff board and read from a teleprompter.… Expand

The romaticization of the struggling author is perhaps the most captivating aspect of The Words. Although there is a deeper, psychological facet that the film seems to try to convey, the most intriguing part is the process in which Rory Jansen

"The Words" is by no means a great film, but it is not a dreadful film either. It tells the story of a struggling writer (Bradley Cooper), who is faced with the choice to pass off another writer's novel as his own. Because so much of the story rests on the writer's thoughts and not on his external actions, the material does not lend itself well to a visual medium like film. Also in a day and age where publishing is dominated by nonfiction, novelizations of movies and genre fiction, it's hard to image someone risking so much in the pursuit of wealth and fame as a novelist of literary fiction. Rather than pass a novel as his own, more likely someone would use a novel as the basis for a screenplay, where it could be potentially sold for a substantial amount of money. With rare exceptions, the goal from the sale of literary fiction would more realistically lead to a professorship at a prestigious university.

However, given the limitations of the story, the filmmakers do their best to make it visual and to subvert expectations. In other words, the story doesn't always go into an obvious direction, but without going into specifics, it doesn't always follow a logical path.

For those yearning for something a bit smarter than the average mass market pictures, "The Words" is worth consideration. The cast including Cooper do a good job given the limitations of the material. Zoe Saldana is totally underutilized in the film. She is relegated to the "supportive wife" role where most of her scenes involve her either flirting or encouraging her beau in some way.… Collapse

A very greatly performed movie. Saldana acts on this one with finese and spectacle, yet the sudden and quickly short boredom the movie brings in the middle is not to be ignored, it costed it two less points. But apart from that, it's pretty cool.

Definitely deserves a positive review. Is this movie a blockbuster or meant for all audiences? No. Is it an artistic portrayal of a writer's life and a drama about deceit and choices and consequences? Absolutely. I would not recommend this movie to the everyday viewer, but I do recommend for those who like it when the art of storytelling meshes with film-making. The movie will also stay in your mind for quite a while after viewing it and I would recommend the movie for movie groups and those who discuss movies afterwards.… Expand