The Words

The Words is a drama about Rory Jansen, a struggling young writer who finds success with a novel he did not write. After years of rejection, he publishes a manuscript that came into his possession, and the book makes him famous. An elderly man then steps forward claiming the work as his own, having written it decades earlier and never seen it published. Rory has to face what his borrowed fame has cost him.

The film is the directorial debut of Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal, who also wrote the screenplay; Klugman went on to direct Baby, Baby, Baby in 2015. Bradley Cooper plays Rory, Zoe Saldaña plays his wife Dora, and Jeremy Irons plays the old man. Dennis Quaid appears as the celebrated author Clay Hammond, and Olivia Wilde and J.K. Simmons are also in the cast. Produced on a budget of about 6 million dollars, it took roughly 13 million dollars worldwide, a modest return. On IMDb the film holds a critics' rating of 4.6 out of 10 from 127 reviews, while on TMDB it has a rating of 6.7 out of 10 from 1,332 votes. The gap suggests audiences were more receptive to it than critics were.