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Flash Of Genius [DVD] [2008]
 
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Flash Of Genius [DVD] [2008]

DVD ~ Lauren Graham
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
RRP: £17.99
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  • This item: Flash Of Genius [DVD] [2008] DVD ~ Lauren Graham

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Flash Of Genius [DVD] [2008]
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Product details

  • Actors: Lauren Graham, Bill Smitrovich, Dermot Mulroney, Alan Alda, Greg Kinnear
  • Directors: Marc Abraham
  • Format: PAL
  • Language English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 12
  • Studio: Optimum Home Entertainment
  • DVD Release Date: 20 July 2009
  • Run Time: 114 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B002BC9Y20
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 12,400 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

Synopsis

Veteran producer Marc Abraham makes his feature film debut with FLASH OF GENIUS, based on a true story set in Detroit and spanning multiple decades. Dr. Robert Kearns (Greg Kinnear) has a good life. A respected college professor who teaches electrical engineering, he has a lovely wife (Lauren Graham) and six great kids. But first and foremost, Kearns is an inventor. In 1967, he built the intermittent windshield wiper, dubbing it 'Kearns' Blinking Eye', and ultimately shared his patented specs with Ford Motor Company so that he could manufacture the wipers for them. Then he spends his life trying to get Ford to admit that they stole his idea when he spots his invention on Ford cars after they bail out of the deal with him. Kearns isn't after money. In taking on one of the most powerful corporations in America, if not the world, Kearns wants Ford to tell the truth and give credit where credit is due. At the same time, he wants to protect the patent process for every inventor.


Kinnear gives a nuanced performance as Kearns, a quirky, church-going family man and professor who slowly descends into paranoia and obsession with reaching his goals. Graham fits the bill as a loving but independent wife and mother who finds herself competing with her husband's quest. Dermot Mulroney is solid as Kearns's childhood friend and early business partner. And it's a treat to see Alan Alda as a justice-seeking lawyer who may or not be able to live up to Kearns's high expectations. FLASH OF GENIUS is based on a John Seabrook article that appeared in The New Yorker in 1993, and his later book of the same name.

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5.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Flash of Genius, 25 July 2009
By RD - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)      
A tale based on the true story of the man who invented the intermittent windscreen wiper. The car companies were spending thousands trying to develop the intermittent wiper when Bob Kearns, an ordinary man, decided to tackle the mystery himself when the problem vexed him while driving in the rain one day. Needless to say he figured out how to do it and took the idea to Ford who sadly went on to swindle the idea from him.

Majority of the movie deals with his fight to claim what was rightfully his by taking on one of the biggest companies in America in the courts. Such acts don't come without a price of course and we see what was a strong loving household slowly fall apart under the pressure.

The acting is excellent and the movie is beautifully filmed. Highly recommended.

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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A story that deserves to be told, 7 Nov 2009
By Pundit "OEJ" (England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)      
The first time I heard what this film was about - the man who invented the intermittent windscreen wiper - I laughed out loud, my first assumption being that it must be a comedy or satire of sorts. But it's a very serious story as it turns out, and one that personally I found very interesting. I wanted to catch every word.

It's one of those legal David vs Goliath tales, or in this case Bob vs Ford Motor Company, and apart from a few minor details it's all true. Dr Robert Kearns created a piece of technology that we take for granted these days, but back in the 1960s it was unheard of and when brought to market gave cars fitted with it a leading sales edge. It was worth a lot of money, in other words. Kearns patented his product and later presented it to Ford - which is when the problems started. A loving family man with six children, he became so obsessed and stubborn over the course of the 12-year span of this film that his family was driven down to near breaking point. He was relentlessly faithful to matters of principle and justice, and while everyone around him - including his very patient and supportive wife - tried to persuade him to move on with his life, to invent more great things and perhaps above all keep his family united and happy, the audience never wants him to give in. And of course, if he had ever done that, the film would have ended right there and then - there wouldn't have been a story to tell. But there was, and still is, a worthwhile story to be told even if it might be representative of countless other inventors who have lacked the business or legal skills to protect what they created. There is reference to the inventor of FM Radio who committed suicide after his idea was stolen from him by RCA. There must surely be hundreds if not thousands of inventors out there, or the descendants of inventors, who will see this film and root for Kearns every step of the way, urging him never to back down, never to accept the out-of-court settlements that always left out mention of his legal and rightful entitlement to an invention. To men like Kearns, it was never about money, not for one second. It was about justice, dignity and simply doing what was right and what he believed in. I for one share that view, and having been in a very vaguely similar situation myself, I could feel what he was going through - the stress, the depression and the paranoia. Hats off to Greg Kinnear for committing himself heart and soul into the portrayal, and to the director Marc Abraham whose first directing role this was, for making this theoretically rather uninteresting story so moving and so engrossing.

Audio options (on the DVD I have) included 'English 5.1 Dolby Digital' and 'English 2.0 Dolby Digital' - nothing else. Subtitle options on my DVD were English only. Extras included about half-a-dozen deleted scenes lasting a total of under four minutes but none that I thought should have been included, but much more interesting was a full re-run of the film with the dialogue muted slightly while the director talks his way through. It's worth seeing again because there's quite a lot of interesting information about the Kearns family and how the film was made; it's a modest education in film-making. I watched that in full.

Not a Hollywood blockbuster by any means, but one of the most enjoyable films I have seen this year, worth seeing more than once and absolutely full value to buy or rent. Five stars for me.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Flash of Genius, 18 Oct 2009
By Mr. M. J. Woodley "brandy*n*wine" (Devon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Great family film from start to finish. One man's struggle for justice. Beautifully filmed and acted. Get the hankie's out. Terrific!
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