“The
Words” is a story about a writer( Clay played by Dennis Quaid) telling a
story about a writer (Rory played by Bradley Cooper) who claimed a
story as his own from another writer. (Jeremy Irons as The Old Man and
Ben Barnes as The Young Man). It is not at all as complicated as it may
sound as the screenwriters, Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal, both also
directed, make the period changes, and which writer is center stage,
basic and easy to understand.

I
am a sucker for a love story and the original story stolen is a love
story (between The Young Man and Celia, played by Nora Amezeder)  of the
old fashioned Hollywood kind and the one that involves the audience
most of all. Another love story between Rory and Dora (Zoe Saldana) is
more modern and less touching. We can’t leave Clay out so Daniella
(Olivia Wilde) is brought in  for a reason so flimsy that it adds
nothing to the picture. The love story that moves you takes place in the
1940s in Paris and is full of cliches but the audience falls for it
just as it is easy to believe the book became a bestseller.

The
big news in the publishing world during the last decade have been about
plagiarism or exaggerating an author’s story and “The Words” tries to
be deep by asking can a man steal someone’s work and live with
themselves? Another question in the movie is it about Clay’s life but
one really doesn’t care that much about the answer.

The
acting by Irons, Quaid and Saldana lifts each scene they are in and the
acting between Barnes and Arnezeder takes their love story to the main
involvement of the movie. Ron Rifkin, Michael McKean and J. K. Simmons,
along with most of the supporting cast, add a gloss that only
professionals can bring to the screen. Both the screenplay and the
directors don’t help Olivia Wilde and of the men Cooper gives the least
interesting performance of the primary roles.

“The
Words” is a good love story but fails to present the dilemma  of a
plagiarist or a writer whether the latter is a good or bad one.