Rama’s SCREEN

I’ve always thought Greg Kinnear was a decent actor but FLASH OF GENIUS goes to show that some characters are destined to be played by certain actors and Greg Kinnear has certainly given the best performance yet. It’s an inspiring, courageous, heart-moving David vs. Goliath drama that will… get you to stand up and cheer for the underdog. FLASH OF GENIUS will make you believe again in the justice system even when everyone else thinks otherwise.The movie respects our level of understanding of all the engineering jargons and it’s entertaining enough so when it gets serious and worrisome, somehow you know it’s gonna lead to a happy conclusion

The Kearns were a typical 1960s Detroit family, trying to live their version of the American Dream. Local university professor Bob married teacher Phyllis (Lauren Graham) and, by their mid-thirties, had six kids who brought them a hectic but satisfying Midwestern existence. When Bob invents a device that would eventually be used by every car in the world, the Kearns think they have struck gold. But their aspirations are dashed after the auto giants who embraced Bob’s creation unceremoniously shunned the man who invented it.

Based on the life of Robert Kearns who battled Ford and Chrysler in court, accusing them of infringing his patent on his invention which is the intermitten windshield wipers. Any courtroom drama would try to put in some spices, extra ingredients, like Al Pacino’s yelling at the end of the movie And Justice for All… and who can forget Jack Nicholson’s “You Can’t Handle the Truth” reply in A Few Good Men, well in this case, instead of turning up the volume and shouting out loud, FLASH OF GENIUS uses comedy to break the tension… from baked pie to the eyewitness/plaintiff asking and answering questions all by himself. And still it has those elements where any side could win or lose. Those elements that will keep our attention focuse on what’s going on the screen.

Greg Kinnear gives an excellent performance as that simple class ordinary American with a big family and has strong conviction in ethics and doing what’s right. I can’t think of anybody else who could better play this character than Kinnear. He has the looks, the simplicity, and the stubbornness and when the make up dept. makes him look years older (because the story supposedly spans over a number of years) Kinnear looks like an older senior citizen version of himself… as opposed to Matt Damon in The Good Shepherd who still looks like Matt freakin’ Damon no matter how much the movie tried to make him look old.
You can see Kinnear looking tired and worn, it’s as if he’s been through several rounds of a Boxing match and still can’t seem to knock the opponent out.

I think the movie does a decent job in showing us how discouraging everybody around him gets as the years progress. His wife, his friend, his lawyer start to leave him because they think he’s fighting against a big corporation and there’s no way he’ll ever win. And for some reason, the time line goes nicely, as in… it doesn’t drag… it’s well set, so you can watch a man who’s going through years of battle without having to feel like you’re sitting there for years. And I appreciate the fact that this movie can stay great without over-dramatizing some moments or throwing in unnecessary sex scenes just for theatricals sake. Everything is in the right dosage.

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