I remember reading once, maybe in a textbook, about American ingenuity. I’m pretty sure American-made school textbooks are always going to be pumped full of nationalism. I guess it was a romanticist idea that a guy would come home after work, put his kids to bed, and invent for America in his basement.
Dr. Robert Kearns is one of those romantic characters. At least, his film character is. Dr. Bob is a college professor by day, dispensing ethics and the principles of engineering, and is the perfect family man by night. After taking a family drive, the good doctor realizes, that his windshield wipers don’t work as well as they could - they should be able to adjust to the intensity of the rain’s downfall. And, he goes down to the basement to create intermittent windshield wipers. And, of course, he was able to accomplish in his basement, with the help of his kids, what the engineering teams at Ford, Chevrolet, and General Motors could not. America!
On the surface, Flash of Genius appears to be a pretty paint-by-numbers film about the American dream. The ads for the film already tell us that Bob pitches his idea to Ford, and they steal it. And, Bob, being the strong-willed hero type, takes on Ford. And, in true movie fashion, Bob finds that he’s on his own. His best friend, his wife, his kids, and even the legal team he hires all tell him he should accept a settlement and let the battle go. Although, not in true movie fashion, Kearns turns all these people away himself. Kearns became so obsessed with his narrow vision of what was right, that it became an obsession that turns him from possible hero into an unlikable nuisance to everyone around him. Everyone around Bob can see that Ford holds major advantages with time and money, the two things Bob doesn’t have. And Kearns loses what finances he has, and lets time pass him by, even as Ford begins to get more and more desperate to force him to settle. By the final courtroom showdown, Kearns lives in an old house by himself, has graying hair, wears shabby clothes, and, oddly enough, still drives a Ford.
While Kinnear was perfectly acceptable as the everyman, the surrounding cast seemed pretty tacked on. Nothing from the characters or from the film seemed to give it any sort of quality that let you empathize with Bob, or anyone. In fact, the film as a whole seemed to give off a “Lifetime Original Movie” vibe. I can’t say for sure, but I get the feeling that this was an interesting idea for a movie, but ended up just being slightly interesting, and not much more.
Did a movie about windshield wipers really need to be made? Well, maybe not.
Ah, but did a movie about one man fighting the system, in these times of economic turmoil and corporate greed, when there seems to be a lack of strong role models for America, really need to be made? Certainly, yes.
Well. Did this movie fill that role?
I’m afraid not.
Rating: 
Written by: Jon on Fri, Oct 3, 2008