The Words Review - 2½ Stars

A story within a story within a story, “The Words” begins with Dennis Quaid reading from his novel about a writer who finds a manuscript in an ancient briefcase and publishes it as his own.  Quaid invites beautiful Olivia Wilde to his apartment to tell her more, while we in the audience wait for the seduction.  Instead the film morphs into Bradley Cooper, the struggling writer who finds the manuscript in the early days of his marriage to Zoe Saldana.  The couple and their life look like an ad for Pottery Barn but I suppose that’s ok.  Anyway, they’re very attractive.  Once published, Cooper gains fame.  But then along comes old-timer Jeremy Irons really wrote the story, and we morph into his story of a World War Two veteran and the Frenchwoman he marries.  Meeting the man behind the manuscript and hearing first hand the pain behind the writing unravels Cooper’s perfect life. “The Words” celebrates the emotional life of writers.   The build up has great tension as you wonder what revealing the secret will cost.  But then comes a lousy ending in which nothing gets resolved.  We go from Iron’s story to Cooper’s story back to Dennis Quaid and Olivia Wilde and a big fizzle.   Does it deliver what it promises?  A very disappointing ending.  Is it entertaining?  Holds you up until the lousy ending.  Is it worth the price of admission?  I’d wait for cable on this one.