Greg Kinnear stars in a true story about little guy inventor vs. Big Auto.
Greg Kinnear’s come a long, long way from hosting the E! Network’s Talk Soup. So far, in fact, that by our count he’s deserved an Academy Award at least twice already: once for As Good As It Gets (he was nominated) and again for his lead in Paul Shrader’s little-seen Bob Crane biopic Auto-Focus. This October he gets what might be his best shot yet at some real critical acclaim with the true-life Flash of Genius, an epic story about… the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper. Part common man tragedy and part real-life historical footnote, if nothing else it’s sure to resonate with an America already sickened by the need for yet more big business bailouts.
Kinnear plays Robert Kearns, a Detroit engineering professor and father of six who worked on inventions in his basement. While Detroit’s leading automakers, including Ford and Chrysler, threw teams of researchers towards building the intermittent wiper, which stops and starts ever few seconds, Kearns perfected a working model in the basement of his home. What happened next is the stuff of American tragedy: having grown up near a Ford plant in Gary, Indiana, Kearns respected the company and believed they’d welcome his innovation. They do at first, but subsequently use it on cars without giving him credit or royalties. Kearns was in fact awarded a patent for his wipers in 1967 – two years before.
So began a grueling fifteen year legal battle that eventually cost Kearns his marriage and job and left him with mental troubles including a 1976 nervous breakdown. His case went through years of appeals, eventually reaching the Supreme Court, and though by 1995 he’d been awarded more than $30 million dollars Kearns maintained the case was always about getting credit for his invention. All he wanted, he said in a 1990 interview, was to own a factory where he and his family could manufacture the wipers he’d invented and duly patented.
If Kearn’s story sounds like a value-sized downer, consider that playing tormented nice guys is by now pretty much Kinnear’s stock in trade, and the story gives him plenty of room for gravitas. The talented supporting cast will also likely shed some light on the dour events. Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls, Bad Santa) plays Kearns’ wife, while Alan Alda appears as Kearn’s lawyer, Dermot Mulroney as Kearn’s friend and associate, and Mitch Pileggi in a rare (and overdue) turn as a bad guy. The film marks producer Marc Abraham’s (Children of Men, Thirteen Days) directorial debut, and it’s based on a New Yorker magazine article by John Seabrook.
Reportedly the subject of lukewarm reception at this year’s Telluride Film Festival as well as middling early reviews, the film is likely a straightforward effort for those who already enjoy such David-and-Goliath efforts. On the other hand, it could also become a cult favorite in the way that Francis Ford Coppola’s similar 1988 man-against-Detroit biopic Tucker: The Man and His Dream garnered a loyal audience for years after its middling box office reception. Still, in the current political economy – $700 billion dollars! – the basic premise alone might be enough to spark the public’s fascination. Flash of Genius premieres October 3.
-Michael Kabel
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