|
|
|
Flash of Genius
(2008)
I have to be honest and say I nearly missed this altogether. Nobody mentioned the release to me and there was apparently no opening media fanfare for it at the time. Blink and you may have missed it too. This is the story of Bob Kearns' legal fight against initially The Ford Motor Company, but also other subsequent Detroit automobile manufacturers when they made the ultimately foolhardy mistake of stealing the patent for his invention, the intermittent windscreen wiper, way back in the midst of the 1960's.
Local university professor Kearns spends some of his little free time tinkering in his workshop. When not confidently and eloquently extolling the virtues of engineering to his students, he had a moment of clarity. Whilst sitting in his car, in the rain, spitting verbal venom at the inadequacies of the technology he is forced to live with, up pops his flash of genius to which the title refers.
No if you're like me, and I'm guessing most of you are, it doesn't really matter too much who the company in this story is. For that matter, it doesn't really make much difference what the invention is, or even who thought of it, come to that. What matters is that the little man has his day in court. It is important that the huge corporate behemoth is forced to become annoyed by the annoying little fly that it stole its ideas off. We all like a good personal struggle movie, particularly a biopic with a little reality thrown in.
Greg Kinnear plays as good a role as he has ever done, despite the fact he is onto a winner from the outset. This is a man who gets our support from minute one. Kearns starts out as a loving and devoted father of six, an honest hard-working man that appreciates family values, has loved his wife for as long as he can remember, is modest and by turns, brilliant. All men should take note of this man when we first meet him as there is much to admire, and whilst the family fortunes change throughout the film, Kearns rigid refusal to crumble in order to uphold what he sees as justice is probably his greatest achievement, even if it does come at a high price in the end. Kinnear handles the character delicately. Every so often, I personally felt that he stumbled into unconvincing territory. Unsuccessfully moving from confident engineer to dumbstruck and 'rabbit in the headlights' naivety when it came to actually discussing his personal achievements with those that were initially prepared to pay for it. Nonetheless, the performance is an excellent one, and my nit-picking should not be taken too much to heart.
Lauren Graham supports very ably, as does Alan Alda, though is unfortunately less evident. I would have liked to have seen more screen time for Alda, who I think was probably underused. Graham does little more than re-enact her role in Evan Almighty. That being of a long-suffering wife who doesn't often say boo to a goose until she has had enough and pulls the leads characters' life from under him at the worst possible moment. Graham is good at this, however, but I would still like to see her undergo more of a challenge, as she seems to have taken her foot off the professional pedal of late.
Overall, a satisfying film from the viewers perspective, if not the financiers of the project. If things had swung the other way and the marketing for the film had been better, this could have featured in some small fashion at this year's awards cock-a-hoop. Unfortunately, like me, this seemed to pass most of us by until it was too late.
Three cheers to Marc Abraham for his efforts also. As a new director, he has handled the project very well and the leap from producer to director is often a path filled with the corpses of ravaged dreams, though he appears to have navigated his way pretty safely so far.
-Steve Leadbetter
|
|
|
|
All contents ©
2004-2009 Thoughtsonfilm.com |
|
|
 |
Director:
Marc Abraham
Writer: Philip Railsback, John Seabrook
Starring: Greg Kinnear, Lauren Graham, Alan Alda, Dermot Mulroney
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Runtime: 119
min
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: October 3, 2008
|
|
 |
|
