The Words Reviews
Cory Woodroof Lumination Network
Bradley Cooper has really got to stop doing bad things for the sake of writing.
Full Review | Feb 11, 2022
Richard Propes TheIndependentCritic.com
The film is about characters you are unlikely to care about living out a multi-layered story you're unlikely to care about.
Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4.0 | Sep 27, 2020
Leigh Paatsch Herald Sun (Australia)
This is by no means a woeful effort, but it is a wasted opportunity.
Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 14, 2020
Debbie Lynn Elias Behind The Lens
I love The Words. I love the look. I love the feel. I love the intrigue of the narrative construction and plot. I love that, much like a novel itself, it allows you to imagine, interpret and draw your own conclusions.
Full Review | Nov 27, 2019
Nicholas Bell IONCINEMA.com
While The Words is certainly an ambitious endeavor, it fails on every front, perhaps a victim to the adage of quality vs. quantity.
Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Jul 9, 2019
Mattie Lucas The Dispatch (Lexington, NC)
A dreadfully uneven and unfocused mess of a film with a lot on its mind but absolutely nothing to say.
Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jun 8, 2019
Abbie Bernstein Assignment X
The Words aspires to cover much more thematic and emotional ground than most films attempt to do. It is occasionally successful, occasionally not, but it certainly gets us thinking, even when it's being contrary.
Full Review | Original Score: B- | Jan 31, 2019
Kelly Jane Torrance Washington Examiner
This isn't the thriller that some marketing materials have made it out to be. But it does contain mysteries you should have the pleasure of puzzling out yourself.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 21, 2018
Debbie Baldwin Ladue News
Jeremy Irons is brilliant and brings some much-needed humanity to an unsubstantial script.
Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Dec 6, 2018
Saundra Sorenson Willamette Week
Registers as a mandatory Intro to Playwriting assignment, as supervised by Nicholas Sparks.
Full Review | Original Score: D | Dec 6, 2018
Pat Padua DCist
The Words wants desperately to convey that sense of being lost in the printed page. But what you see of the prose in the found manuscript makes Fifty Shades of Grey look like Finnegans Wake.
Full Review | Aug 30, 2018
J. Olson Cinemixtape
"The Words" is an elegant piece of entertainment, replete with an understated but sweeping score, unexpected period piece vignettes, and melodramatic but universal themes.
Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 17, 2016
David Nusair Reel Film Reviews
The Words is a solid drama that's anchored by one of Cooper's very best performances...
Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 3, 2016
Eric D. Snider EricDSnider.com
This tedious and needlessly convoluted drama ... just meanders aimlessly.
Full Review | Original Score: D+ | Jul 17, 2013
Will Leitch Deadspin
A movie about a bad author who steals the book of a good author, and I'm pretty certain that The Words, if pressed, wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
Full Review | Original Score: C- | Jun 23, 2013
Al Alexander The Patriot Ledger
It's nothing you haven't seen before in films about struggling artists spending more time obsessing than working.
Full Review | Original Score: C+ | May 26, 2013
Ken McIntyre Total Film
Its long, dry patches of colourless storytelling suggest it makes more sense as a book, one to read before you fall asleep to dream of better movies.
Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | May 2, 2013
Graham Young Birmingham Mail
In a relevant study of plagiarism, influences and lifetime experiences, The Words chiefly reminds us that the past is indelible.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 25, 2013
Rich Cline Contactmusic.com
Like a Russian nesting doll, this film tells a story within a story within another story, playing around with fact and fiction, as well as the nature of creative inspiration and integrity.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 19, 2013
Jeffrey Westhoff Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)
Nothing, absolutely nothing, makes 'The Words' interesting.
Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Nov 2, 2012