Movie review: The Words

I saw the trailer for The Words awhile back and have been eagerly awaiting its opening. But when I saw it today, I was a little disappointed. Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Irons and Dennis Quaid were all good. The plot just needed a little more substance or tension or something. The movie starts with an author (played by Dennis Q) reading from his new book, The Words. It tells the story of a struggling writer (played by Bradley C) who finds a manuscript and eventually passes it off as his own. It turns into a best-seller and makes his career. One day, he meets the man (played by Jeremy I) whose manuscript it really was and finds out how the manuscript came to be lost. (At this point the movie would have been better if the Jeremy character had threatened to sue the writer or expose the fraud to the press or something. But inexplicably, he doesn't.)By the end of the movie, we suspect how the Dennis Q character fits into all this, though they never explicitly say. It's not a terrible movie but it's not as good as it could have been. I was glad I had paid the bargain matinee price.