Movie Review

Flash of Genius

Flash of Genius stars Greg Kinear as a professor who invents the intermittent windshield wiper, only to have it ripped off by Ford in the 1960's.  The professor obsesses on getting Ford to admit that it stole his design.  Along the way, the professor alienates his wife and kids, and actually ends up in a mental hospital.  When he returns from the hospital, he doesn't give up.  Rather, he hires an attorney, who gets Ford to offer him several hundred thousand dollars.  He declines the offer because Ford won't admit it's wrong.  His attorney resigns, his wife divorces him and he finds himself all alone.  But he never gives up.  He spends the next several years researching the law and acting as his own attorney.  His kids finally come around and start helping their dad with his case. After many years, he finally gets his day in court.

It's a long movie.  It also gets rather depressing.  You wonder if the poor bastard is ever going to get a break.  But it works.  Anyone who ever had to fight city hall, or the IRS, or the building department can relate to this guy.  Most would have packed it in years ago.  Not this guy.  He's no quitter.  He was a principled guy - no amount of money was going to buy him off - including the $30 million Ford offered him the night before closing arguments.  You've got to admire his sense of right and wrong and his passion for justice.  But at the same time, you wonder at what price?  After all, he lost his wife and family, his house, and his job as a professor.

Was it worth it?  You make the call.  Oh yeah, it's based on a true story.  That's a joke around my house.  It seems as if almost every movie coming out is 'based on a true story'.  In this case, although I have no way of knowing, it seems a little more believable.

There's no violence or sex in this one, but is shows a man of principle never giving up on what he believes when everyone around him is telling him to quit.

Three out of five beers.