“The Words” makes audience think

As someone aspiring to be an author one day, I have given a lot of thought to what that would be like. Naturally when I saw the trailer for “The Words,” I was instantly captivated and ready to go to the theater.

As I left the cinema, I had a million different ideas buzzing around in my head and felt like I had gotten more out of the movie than I had ever expected.

The movie starts out a bit slowly and begins with best-selling author Clayton Hammond (Dennis Quaid) attending a public reading of his new book “The Words.” The book is about Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper), a young aspiring writer. Jansen and his girlfriend Dora (Zoe Saldana) are moving in together, and soon after, things begin to take a turn for the worse.

Depressed, Jansen begins to transfer his writings into an old, vintage briefcase Dora had gotten him in Paris. Inside he discovers a manuscript for a book, which he reads, and is left in awe at the quality of the writing. In an effort to try and “feel” the writing for himself, he begins to transcribe the book.

His wife sees the writing and, mistaking it for his own, convinces Jansen to take the book to a publisher. Astounded by the writing, the publisher agrees to back his work and what follows is fame and a spot on the best-sellers list for Jansen. At first, he gives no consideration to the work he has plagiarized until a gut-wrenching encounter with the old man, played by Jeremy Irons, who originally wrote it.

The movie continues bouncing between the book and real life in an amazing story that gives the watcher a whole new perspective on the writing industry and the life and integrity of a writer. Cooper, Irons and Quaid all give a stunning performance that literally left me at the edge of my seat.