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Kinnear reigns with intermittent flashes of genius

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Everyone likes an underdog story, and I am no different. I love to see the little guy win out over corporate America, especially in true stories. “Flash of Genius” is one such tale, but the price paid for such triumph is high. Freshman director and veteran producer Marc Abraham's “Flash of Genius,” while on the surface is about an automotive device and its conception, thankfully is more about the people who made the device possible and how this little mechanism changed lives - on millions of cars and in one small family. It is a film that moves, because of the passion of its subject Bob Kearns (Greg Kinnear) and its gritty back-stabbing storyline. Films based on true stories can be problematic when Hollywood steps in to “dramatize,” but “Flash of Genius” stays consistently engaging (due to Kinnear's pure performance) and holds reasonably close to the facts.

Kearns created the intermittent wipers that we all have in our cars - the ones that allow drivers to more easily adjust the wipers to varying levels of rain and which we all take for granted. A minor thing, which makes a big difference, but the story behind it is far less simple. In fairness, Ford did have an idea for a similar wiper, but theirs was impractical (requiring more than 20 moving parts), while Kearns' only had one. The problem was Kearns wanted to manufacture the part himself, and auto-giant Ford appeared to agree, but reportedly managed to appropriate his design without giving him credit or royalties.

What ensues is one man's plight to fight the Goliath of auto companies (and later others, like GM), becoming the David for the little guy, protecting the rights of the creator and not the giants with all the money.

Kinnear masters the character, becoming the determined Everyman inventor flawlessly. Kearns' obvious devotion to his family, and his incapacitating fixation with getting justice, play out with equal believability - because of Kinnear's restrained performance. With Kinnear's talent, it is easy to feel both passion for him when he is fighting his case, and to simultaneously want to slap him in the head for being so darn stubborn. He is a man driven by his perception of what is right and just. Kearn's was right, he did get screwed, but at what point does one bow out? Ford offered him some insane, big dollar settlements, which he declined because Ford would not admit to having taken his idea. His stubbornness eventually wins him his case against Ford, but at what cost? Twelve years of his life, his marriage and most of the money he is awarded is lost to continued and costly legal battles.

I am sure Kearns is not the first, nor will he be the last, inventor to get taken by the big dogs, but it is the individual story in “Flash of Genius,” perfectly fleshed out by Philip Railsback's smart script, that make us care about this one man and his plight.

Alan Alda (Kearns' tenacious lawyer) and Dermot Mulroney (Kearns' friend) give multifaceted supporting performances that challenge good guy/bad guy definitions. To me, Lauren Graham is the weakest link as Kearns' wife. It's not a big part, and although she plays the supportive wife well enough, she just did not feel right in the role - for me.

The title of the film comes from a 1941 Supreme Court ruling, which defined an invention as something borne out of a flash of creative genius, not merely skill or knowledge. And I'm not sure if this part is Hollywood or reality, but there is a wonderful courtroom scene where Kearns is required to question himself (as he acted as his own lawyer) and actually moves in and out of the witness box asking himself questions and answering them, until the judge stops him.

Admittedly, the story lags a little in its middle act, but not so much as to lose my attention - although my husband squirmed a bit. It is after all, a story about a man, his intermittent wipers (the original name for it, coined by Kearns, was the Kearns' Blinking Eye wipers), and patent hearings, and as such, doesn't warrant any big explosions, car chases or intimate sex scenes. Still, veteran producer Marc Abraham (in his first time behind the camera) nicely balances the technical and human aspects of the story. The PG-rated “Flash of Genius” earns a B in my grade book.

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