Charming and brutal

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Flash Of Genius was almost unbearable to watch, due to how selfish and relentlessly stupid Bob Kearns was. Yes it's a great performance, yes the acting is good, But who would deprive there family of what they need or a huge amount of cash just to get recognized? I mean sometimes you know when it's enough. I felt Kearns deserved his fate, due to his selfish actions, and everything else, even if he was right.Bottom line. Flash of Genius is a well made movie, but a torturous experience to sit through. They build him up as an underdog, but they don't realize how awfully annoying Bob Kearns truly was. If you really wanna see for yourself, go ahead it's a well made movie, but be prepared to be yelling and screaming due to Kearn's selfishness and stubborn actions.3/10

When it was over, my gut reaction to this movie was one of sadness. Yes, in many ways it was inspiring. It's nice to see the little guy (in this case, Dr. Robert Kearns, played by Greg Kinnear) come out on top. Whenever you see a David vs. Goliath story it's always nice to see David win. But at what price? The scene in this movie that really sticks with me has little to do with victory. It comes at the end. Kearns has won his court case and been awarded over $10 million from the Ford Motor Company after a jury ruled that Ford had stolen his idea for an intermittent windshield wiper. It should be a time for a grand celebration. But the journey has been a long one and a hard one. It cost Kearns his wife and almost his family. He reconciled with his children, but in that haunting scene, his ex-wife (whom he did love, and who did love him) congratulates him on having achieved everything he wanted and then simply walks down the halls of the courthouse, leaving him behind. His obsession with victory over his marriage made a reconciliation impossible. Director Marc Abraham filmed that perfectly, and got the point across: Kearns won - and he won a lot - but he also lost - and he lost big time. The whole movie, to me, builds up to that question - at what price victory? How much should we be willing to sacrifice to win - even if the victory is an important one, a serious matter of principle? Is there a point at which we should decide that the price of victory is just too high, or was Vince Lombardi right - "winning isn't everything - it's the only thing!"Frankly, this isn't an exciting movie. It isn't going to lift you out of your seats at any point. The courtroom scenes don't have any "You can't handle the truth!" dramatic revelations or admissions. It's actually pretty simple and straightforward; some might even call it dull at times. But this isn't a movie that you watch for excitement. It's a thought provoking movie. It's a movie about principles and values. It's a movie that makes you wonder just how far you would go to fight for what's right, even if you had to give up the most important thing in the world to do it. I'm not saying Kearns was right or wrong. He answered those questions for himself. I'm just not sure that I would have answered them in the same way. But a movie that raises such a thought provoking issue - even if it isn't the most exciting movie you'll ever see - is worth at least a 7/10.

One can have a legitimate argument when they voice that most Hollywood bio pics are a "flash in the pan"; but most certainly not "Flash of Genius". Director Marc Abraham's brilliant film on Dr. Robert Kearns, the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper, was not one wet dud. The narrative motors on Dr. Kearns' legal battle with the Ford Company, whom stole his revolutionary invention. But the narrative does not wipe away Kearns relationship with his wife Phyllis and his six kids, as it plays an integral part in the story. By the way, The Kearns fell just two short to be Gosselinized. Abraham does drive the motion that Kearns was an obsessive inventor who constantly fixated on obtaining justice for the Ford larceny. The ramification of that fixation for Kearns is that it wiped away his marriage with his mostly supportive but consequently impatient wife which he adored. Even though Dr. Kearns had his egoistic eccentricities, you have to admire his driven determination to stop short on nothing to obtain legitimate justice for his invention. Kearns actually represented himself in his legal battle, which actually provides the film's court scenes to have a semi-comical edge and an inspirational driving-force theme. Director Abraham marvelously invented & constructed "Flash of Genius" with bio clarity on one man's battle. Screenwriter Phillip Railsback scribed up a gripping and inspirational screenplay; ingenious movie wordsmith work here by Railsback. But what wiped me off my socks the most was the astounding performance of star Greg Kinnear as Kearns. I think the Academy did not see it too clear when they did not nominate Kinnear for a Best Actor Oscar for his shining work here. Commendable supporting acting work was also contributed to "Flash of Genius" by the clear-cut performances of Dermot Mulroney as Kearns' friend & business partner Gil Privick, and Alan Alda as a semi-pushy counsel Gregory Lawson. However, Lauren Graham's effort as Phyllis Kearns was not all that it was cracked up to be and she seemed to be in mediocre-thespian cruise control throughout the movie. Nevertheless, this is a "must-see" movie! So invent an entertaining day for you today by allocating some time for a "Flash of Genius" viewing. ***** Excellent

The David versus Goliath story - with David wielding an Intermittent Windshield Wiper.Antonio Meucci, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Alfred Russell Wallace - all these men had their ideas stolen, only credited years, decades after their ideas had entered the fabric of society under other mens' names: the telephone, Superman, evolution...Who knows how many such men there have been over millennia? The nature of ideas is so amorphous, so inscrutable; "Steal from one man - that's plagiarism. Steal from many men - that's research." FLASH OF GENIUS shows us one of those millions who had his idea stolen, and his principled battle to regain credit for that idea: the intermittent windshield wiper.Hard to believe this function once did not exist - but back in the late 1960s, when all windshield wipers only went OFF and ON, college professor and tinkerer, Robert Kearns (Greg Kinnear, whom we meet - not coincidentally - lecturing on Ethics), hit upon the idea for the "Blinking Eye Windshield Wiper" (with "variable dwell" - that expression kills me!), a wiper that would function like the human eye - whenever it was necessary.He patents the invention (his "Mona Lisa") through his good friend, Gil Privick (Dermot Mulrooney), who owns an auto dealership. He and Gil shop the Blinking Eye to Ford in Detroit, who promptly steal the idea. Because they're a corporation and thus Bad Guys.So begins Kearns's obsessive, decades-long battle, not for money, but for the right to call the invention his; for Ford to admit their outright theft of his patent.In a cute little irony, long before he went head-to-head with Detroit corps, Kearns called his brood of six kids, "The Board of Directors." In a sadder irony, his wife (Lauren Graham) leaves him because with all his time spent on the court case, he was neglecting his kids - the same kids who would years later all end up clustered in his little apartment, helping him win his case! Alan Alda enters the equation briefly as Gregory Lawson, a power lawyer for Kearns, but when he forces a settlement from Ford and Kearns won't accept it unless Ford also acknowledge they stole his idea, Lawson is outa there, but not before warning Kearns of the difference between principled and pragmatic, "Time means nothing to them, money means nothing to them - they will bury you in countersuits, motions, delays; five years from now, you won't be closer to a resolution. Your hair will turn gray..."And he is right.In court, Ford Corp (represented by CEO Mitch Pileggi, among others) claims the idea for an intermittent wiper was in the works anyway and Kearns simply put a few common components together to finalize the design.And he is right.Kearns, who represented himself in court, countered that argument by reading Dickens, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness..." pointing out that Dickens never invented the words themselves, but put them together in such a fashion that he created something new and spanky.And he is right.The beauty of a good story, that happens to be true: every side is right and every side is wrong.Ford would offer Kearns higher and higher sums of money, through their lawyer who looked like a gangster, Charlie Defao (Tim Kelleher), eventually offering 30 million dollars to drop the case, which Kearns and his grown kids (now truly acting like a Board of Directors) refuse - on the grounds that the settlement still did not come with an admission of theft.Well-paced, well-acted, frustrating, inspiring, poignant, FLASH OF GENIUS is a testament to the power of principles, yet a warning as to the cost of holding onto them with white knuckles. Kearns's family life was destroyed, he suffered a mental breakdown and was in a sanitarium for a brief period.Of course Kearns wins - in the usual manipulative inspirational music swell during the court decision - or this movie would not exist. But it is unfortunate that Kearns's fight did not help the plight of all Inventors. We are all aware of those modern clauses in corporate contracts that claim everything from every individual as attributed to that corporation. There are no real inventors left, no single men allowed to claim that flash of genius. Humanity has been swallowed up by The Man.Robert Kearns was one of the last Real Men to fight The Man, squandering his life to retain his Humanity. On variable dwell.--Review by Poffy The Cucumber (for Poffy's Movie Mania).